North Carolina Absentee Ballot Voting Restrictions Challenge

A pro-voting lawsuit challenging last-minute absentee ballot voting restrictions for the midterms.

Background

The North Carolina Alliance for Retired Americans, two state voters and other pro-voting organizations filed a lawsuit in federal court challenging last-minute absentee ballot restrictions for the 2026 midterms. Plaintiffs assert that the North Carolina State Board of Elections “upended the status quo” on Sept. 4 by implementing new policies that will invalidate absentee ballots for purely technical reasons unrelated to a voters’ eligibility. Specifically, the new policies: 1) require ballot disqualification if “the voter returns the absentee-ballot package with an unsealed inner envelope–even if the package is otherwise properly sealed,” 2) implement a new signature-verification requirement with unclear instructions for county board implementation and 3) eliminate a prior ban on signature matching, which is “notoriously fraught with error.” The lawsuit argues the policies violate the US Constitution and the Materiality Provision of the Civil Rights Act. Plaintiffs seek to block the new policies before the midterms.

Why It Matters

Absentee voting is already underway in North Carolina with more than 81,000 voters already requesting absentee ballots at the time this case was filed. In 2025, North Carolina’s State Board of Elections turned from Democratic-controlled to Republican-controlled. As a result, the State Board has taken numerous steps to increase hurdles for mail voting, including reversing prior decisions such as the inner mail envelope requirement.

Latest Updates:

• Sept. 22, 2026: Plaintiffs filed their complaint.