(The Center Square) – Resolution plans to three pending lawsuits against the North Carolina State Board of Elections were adopted unanimously by the five-member panel Tuesday.
The latest, naming the United States of America as a plaintiff and pursued by the Department of Justice, involved the Help America Vote Act, colloquially called HAVA. Executive Director Sam Hayes said he had run the plan by the Justice Department and, provided the state board agreed, was ready to proceed.
Additionally, the state board acted on petition rules consideration after public comment; on campaign finance rules consideration after public comment; and penalty waiver requests for late-filed campaign finance reports.
In a matter separate of the board but running parallel, Auditor Dave Boliek released the names of chairmen of the respective 100 county boards of election. Boliek said the appointments were immediate.
The state board took action to fill the remainer of the county five-member boards, with terms to begin July 22.
Hayes said missing information for voters on rolls had led to the lawsuits.
“The goal here is to obtain that information in as efficient way as possible, and satisfy the outstanding litigation, and comport with federal law,” Hayes told the board of three Republicans and two Democrats.
He said vendors to help with mailings are still under consideration. Estimated costs are $150,000 to $200,000.
“We think we have adequate funding for each of these mailings in each of these phases,” Hayes said.
Hayes said “faulty instructions” on a form provided by the state board enabled some voters to register without providing a driver’s license number or the last four of their Social Security number. The state Court of Appeals has ordered the board to find the missing HAVA-required information for future elections.
Hayes’ three-part plan will have mailings from the state board to affected voters; data review and corrections to be made by county boards of elections; and provide the avenue of provisional ballots for voters in future elections who are missing the driver’s license number of the last four of the Social Security number.
