[REVISION HISTORY]

North Carolina election procedure disputes

Updated 1 time since CLSTR started tracking revisions of this situation.

What changed

2026-10-02 19:30 UTC → 2026-10-10 10:46 UTC · added ~~removed~~

In September 2026, the North Carolina State Board of Elections approved new regulations for absentee ballots via a 3-2 Republican majority. These rules mandate stricter protocols for sealing and returning inner and outer envelopes. Under these guidelines, errors such as unsealed envelopes or the use of incorrect envelopes may result in the rejection of a ballot and the issuance of a replacement, rather than the original being counted. By October, these new requirements, along with existing voter photo-ID laws, became the subject of legal challenges. Nonprofits and voters filed lawsuits alleging that the absentee ballot rules violate the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and constitutional protections regarding due process and equal protection. Concurrently, the NAACP appealed to the Fourth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to overturn a previous ruling upholding the state’s voter photo-ID law, arguing the legislation was enacted with racially discriminatory intent. As of early October, photo-ID requirements remain in effect for in-person voting. Data from the North Carolina Board of Elections shows a decline in absentee voting for the 2026 midterm elections compared to the 2022 cycle. As of October 7, 24,005 absentee ballots had been returned, a 16.3 percent decrease from the 28,685 returned during the same period in 2022. This decline includes a 25.7 percent drop in Democratic absentee ballots and a 15.7 percent decrease in Republican absentee voting.

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