North Carolina would end its three-day grace period for absentee ballots arriving after Election Day, and counties would be banned from taking so-called “Zuck bucks,” under provisions of an omnibus elections bill filed Thursday in the state Senate.
North Carolina Senate is advancing a bill that would prohibit applicants for state employee positions to affirm their support for the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) agenda.
A chairman of the N.C. Senate’s Redistricting and Elections Committee is raising concerns about the state Supreme Court speeding up the judicial process for “highly political” cases. A news release Wednesday from Sen. Warren Daniel, R-Burke, carries the headline “Deja Vu: Plaintiffs Ask Supreme Court to Sidestep Court of Appeals.” “In another attempt to circumvent...
State legislative leaders want the N.C. Court of Appeals to block a ruling that could add 56,000 felons to the state’s voting rolls. A trial court issued the ruling Monday. It would open up voting to felons on parole, probation, or other post-release supervision. “This is an unrivaled attempt by judges to legislate from the...
Correction: a previous version of this story indicated that no current members are double bunked in the new map. An update to any double bunked members in forthcoming. The N.C. House and Senate gave final approval to redrawn or remedial legislative electoral maps Thursday, after last-minute adjustments delayed the Senate session several times. The House...
A co-chairman of the N.C. Senate’s redistricting committee is drawing attention to a national Democratic operative’s lead role in drawing alternative election maps for North Carolina. A redistricting lawsuit calls for courts to force North Carolinians to vote under the alternative maps in upcoming elections. Sam Hirsch, an attorney based in Washington, D.C., “directed the...
As the N.C. House passed its new election maps Tuesday, Nov. 2, the Senate followed suit Wednesday, Nov. 3, passing new maps with a vote along party lines, 26-19. Sen. Ralph Hise, R-McDowell, one of three co-chairs of the Senate Redistricting Committee, said lawmakers didn’t use racial or election data as part of the criteria...
Senate Bill 191, “No Patient Left Alone Act,” is headed to the governor’s desk. The bill passed the state Senate, 49-0, on Wednesday, Oct. 6. The bill ensures patients in health care facilities can have a visitor, which should be commonplace but ended because of COVID restrictions. Many people died alone. The bill passed the...
N.C. House and Senate committees officially adopted criteria for drawing legislative and congressional districts for the next decade. The committees voted during a joint meeting Thursday, August 12. The criteria forbid the use of partisan or election-results data to draw new district boundaries. That’s a departure from previous redistricting under both Democrats and Republicans, in...
Personal income tax rates would be slashed and the corporate tax rate entirely eliminated by 2028 under a proposal rolled out on Tuesday, May 25, by N.C. Senate Republicans. The plan would reduce North Carolina’s flat income tax rate from 5.25% to 4.99%. It would also raise the standard deduction from $21,500 to $25,500 for...
Gov. Roy Cooper is leading a nationwide effort in cooperation with Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer to encourage business leaders to publicly oppose states that pass election-reform laws. “We are asking the business leaders in our states, and throughout the country, to add their voices to the growing chorus of corporations standing on the right side...
