North Carolina election officials are scrambling to reinstate same-day voter registration and out-of-precinct provisional voting for the 2014 general election while the fate of the Oct. 1 appellate court ruling that reinstated the measures is considered by the U.S. Supreme Court.
The Oct. 1 ruling by the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned parts of a 2013 state elections reform law, pushing state elections officials to reinstate same-day voter registration at one-stop early voting sites set to open Oct. 23.
By Oct. 2, state attorneys forwarded the case to U.S. Supreme Court Justice John Roberts, requesting a stay on the ruling due to its “massive and unprecedented last-minute change.”
State Board of Elections spokesperson Josh Lawson said the ruling pushed election officials to investigate ways to implement same-day registration in a network no longer equipped to handle it, although they expected immediate Supreme Court involvement.
“We are looking at options. It is likely that same-day registration could involve a manual process, which would be difficult, but we are working to ensure compliance with today’s order, pending any alternative disposition before the U.S. Supreme Court,” Lawson said during an Oct. 1 phone interview.
Before the 2013 law, same-day voter registration at one-stop locations was automatically processed by a statewide system with access to all elections data. The system was stripped of same-day registration capabilities in 2013. Lawson said the function could be reincorporated, but concerns about limited time to adequately test the change might lead the board to enact manual registration instead.
A manual process would require poll workers to confirm a voter’s address and precinct information to ensure the correct ballot is issued.
New Hanover County Elections Director Marvin McFadyen said he would respond to any mandates handed down by the state elections board.
The appeals court ruling also overturned a provision that barred ballots cast outside a voter’s registered precinct from counting.
Under the 2013 law, voters who showed up outside their home precincts on Election Day were allowed to vote a provisional ballot, but the ballot was not counted. Under the Oct. 1 ruling, provisional ballots cast outside a voter’s home precinct will be considered for any race in which the voter is eligible to participate.
The 2013 law, also known as House Bill 589 or the Voter Information Verification Act, enacted strict reforms, including implemented voter ID requirements, reduced early voting timeframe, eliminated same-day voter registration and pre-registration for high school students, and prohibited out-of-precinct votes from counting.
The League of Women Voters of North Carolina and North Carolina NAACP are among the plaintiffs suing the state on grounds that the law violates the U.S. Constitution and the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
An August ruling by U.S. District Court Judge Thomas Schroeder denied the groups a preliminary injunction to prevent elements of the law from going into effect while the lawsuit plays out. But the appellate court panel overturned Schroeder’s ruling 2–1.
U.S. Court of Appeals Judge James Wynn wrote in the majority opinion for the Oct. 1 ruling, “the district court got the law plainly wrong in several crucial respects.” The ruling upheld other aspects of the law, including fewer days for early voting and the soft rollout for voter ID requirements.
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