The Republican National Committee is asking for the North Carolina State Board of Elections to revise its guidance and rules to follow the letter and spirit of the state’s election integrity laws.
On May 20, the RNC, the North Carolina Republican Party, the National Republican Congressional Committee, and a Pasquotank County, North Carolina, voter sent a letter to the Board of Elections alleging the Board “promulgated administrative rules and ... issued guidance regarding the implementation of voter ID and absentee ballot law which conflict with certain statutes enacted by the North Carolina General Assembly.”
The letter requests a declaratory ruling to address what the Republican bodies call election inconsistencies.
The letter was addressed to Karen Brinson Bell, the executive director of the North Carolina State Board of Elections, Paul Cox, the Board’s general counsel, and other board members.
The board did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Epoch Times.
In an RNC release, RNC Chairman Michael Whatley said the state’s Board of Elections’ guidelines and rules “clearly conflict with state law and will undermine the integrity of North Carolina elections.”
In the same release, North Carolina Republican Party Chair Jason Simmons used much stronger language.
“[Ms. Brinson Bell] has repeatedly abused her authority to sidestep legislation passed by the General Assembly,” Mr. Simmons said in a release.
“She is manipulating the elections process and undermining common-sense election integrity measures in order to fulfill a partisan narrative.”
North Carolina, which has voted Republican in all but two presidential elections since 1968, remains a top target for the Democratic Party.
It most recently won in 2008 when President Barack Obama carried the Tarheel State. It will cast 16 votes in the Electoral College in 2024.
However, in the 2020 election, former President Donald Trump won by a narrow margin.
According to figures provided by the state’s Board of Elections President Trump prevailed by about 74,000 votes. That’s a little more than 1 percent of the about 5.5 million votes cast in the 2020 presidential contest.
In a May 20 release, the North Carolina Republican Party said the Democrats are failing to put the state “in play” despite multiple campaign visits by President Biden and his entourage.
The Republicans’ letter to the state board focuses on the Board’s Numbered Memo 2021-03, which was most recently updated in January.
Ms. Brinson Bell’s memo advises the state’s county boards of elections on how to deal with absentee ballot deficiencies.
The letter alleges that Ms. Brinson Bell’s guidance is “inconsistent with the general statutes” of the state.
It pays special attention to “unsealed container-return envelopes.”
Under North Carolina law, according to the letter, the absentee voter and two witnesses must confirm that “votes to be counted are those that have been made on the ballots that have been placed into the sealed container-return envelope.”
“If that envelope is left unsealed [or is allowed to be unsealed and then resealed], the confirmation provided by the voter and the witnesses can be rendered meaningless,” the letter said.
“Someone could simply remove the ballots, tamper with the ballots ... or replace the ballots, put the altered or new ballots in the container-return envelope, and then submit the container-return envelope and the fraudulent ballots to the county board of elections.”
According to the figures reported by the Board of Elections, about 700,000 absentee mail-in ballots were cast for President Biden in 2020.
By comparison, about 278,000 absentee mail-in ballots went to President Trump.
The letter also calls for the board’s guidance on implementing the state’s voter ID rules that are inconsistent with the law.
It claims the guidance to let a voter provide “ any explanation or documentation' which could help an election official determine whether the name appearing on the photo identification is the same or substantially equivalent to the name contained in the voter’s voter registration record” conflicts with the existing statute.
The letter is signed by John Branch and Thomas Hooper of Baker, Donelson, Bearman, Caldwell & Berkowitz, PC.
The letter is the RNC’s latest action concerning election integrity.
