‘Don’t let them take away your vote’: North Carolina governor slams ‘infuriating’ ballot rejections caused by new GOP restrictions

North Carolina Gov. Josh Stein (D) castigated the state’s election board for setting strict new rules for mail voting that are leading to thousands of ballot rejections. 

Stein’s comments come after Democracy Docket exclusively reported new data showing that the board’s new rules for counting absentee ballots are leading to much higher rejection rates than in the past — particularly in some Democratic strongholds.  

“The State Board of Elections’ last-minute changes to voting by mail are leading to thousands more absentee ballots being rejected this election – at a rejection rate twice as high as in 2022,” Stein wrote on social media late Tuesday. “It’s infuriating. North Carolinians, please make a plan to vote this year, in person if possible. And if you’re voting by mail, make sure you seal both envelopes on your ballot. Don’t let them take away your vote.”

Some large counties have said that around 2.5% of mail ballots are being rejected due to the new rules.

Counting ballots rejected for all reasons, some Democratic strongholds are seeing rejection rates as high as 7-8%, the data shared with Democracy Docket revealed.

Under the new rules, approved by the board in September in a party-line vote hours before ballots were mailed out, voters are required to place their ballot inside, and seal, an inner envelope. That envelope then gets put into an outer envelope. A separate new rule limits who can assist voters with their ballots to “near-relatives.”

A pro-voting group* sued to reverse the new absentee ballot rules, but a federal judge upheld them Monday.

*The Elias Law Group (ELG) represents the plaintiffs in this case. ELG Firm Chair Marc Elias is the founder of Democracy Docket.