Articles

Election security has lately been associated with conservatives. Nevertheless, there are progressives who share concerns about election integrity. One of those is Free Speech for People, a left-wing organization that has expressed concerns about the integrity of our voting systems. Hand-marked paper ballots make audits more reliable The organization issued a report on post-election audits...

For the first time in several years, North Carolina will use all the same state legislative districts for two elections in a row. That, coupled with the release of the 2026 Civitas Partisan Index (CPI) on November 6, allows us to assess the political shifts in North Carolina General Assembly districts by comparing the 2026...

With candidate filing for the 2026 election starting on Dec. 1, it’s a good time to take stock of the electoral landscape in North Carolina. With that in mind, here is the 2026 Civitas Partisan Index (CPI). The CPI measures the general tendency of voters in a district to vote for one of the two...

The North Carolina State Board of Elections (SBE) is requesting public input on its planned update of its election management and campaign finance reporting software systems. The request includes a bare bones description of the systems and offers a clue as to why they are looking for updates: Currently, the State Board maintains the Statewide...

The North Carolina General Assembly has joined other states in mid-decade redistricting ahead of the 2026 elections Recent redistricting reform legislation has all the elements needed to prevent gerrymandering in North Carolina North Carolina should enact redistricting reform well before the next round of redistricting in 2031 The North Carolina General Assembly approved a new...

The North Carolina General Assembly approved a new congressional district map on October 22. The change involves moving Beaufort, Carteret, Craven, Dare, Hyde, and Pamlico counties, along with part of one precinct in Onslow County, from the Third District to the First. In turn, it shifts Greene, Lenoir, Wayne, and Wilson counties from the First...

The North Carolina General Assembly approved a new congressional district map on October 22. The change involves moving Beaufort, Carteret, Craven, Dare, Hyde, and Pamlico counties, along with part of one precinct in Onslow County, from the Third District to the First. In turn, it shifts Greene, Lenoir, Wayne, and Wilson counties from the First...

When word came out that the General Assembly might consider drawing a new congressional map to make the First District more Republican, I wondered if they were potentially creating a rod for their own backs: Andy Jackson, director of the Civitas Center for Public Integrity at the John Locke Foundation, warned that redrawing districts could...

A complaint filed in a North Carolina superior court accuses the UNC–Chapel Hill Board of Trustees of conducting policy discussions behind closed doors State law requires open meetings and public disclosure of records with some exceptions If the accusations are true, the board has violated state law A former provost has accused the University of North Carolina...

Following Rep. Cecil Brockman’s arrest for crimes related to his alleged “statutory sex offenses” with a 15-year-old, leaders from both major parties have called for his immediate resignation. The North Carolina House Democrats wrote (on a page that will, no doubt, soon be erased) that Brockman, “Whether he’s working on bipartisan solutions or standing firm...

The plaintiffs were destined to lose Pierce v NC State Board of Elections, a racial gerrymandering claim against state Senate districts in northeastern North Carolina. They not only failed to prove that the districts were racial gerrymanders, but the evidence presented in the case may help pave the way for the General Assembly to redraw...

Cover photo: Madison County Board of Elections member Dyatt Smathers stands outside the former early voting site in Hot Springs, North Carolina, October, 2024. While government actions after Hurricane Helene struck western North Carolina have gotten mixed reviews, the performance of election officials was almost universally praised. That performance is worth remembering one year later....

The North Carolina State Board of Elections (SBE) is conducting a review of 38 election rules to determine whether they are still necessary. The review is required by state law (§ 150B‑21.3A.) and has three steps: “The agency analyses the rules to make initial determinations if they are still necessary, publicly posts those determinations and...

A Canadian indicted for voting in the Wilmington area is just the latest case of noncitizen voting in North Carolina The State Board of Elections has systems for finding and removing noncitizens from voter rolls, but they are inadequate North Carolina should implement documentary proof of citizenship requirements for voting A Canadian voted in several...

Government overreach threatens the fundamental right of Americans to support causes privately without fear of retaliation History shows that forced disclosure of donors and supporters undermines free speech and endangers citizens The Supreme Court must reaffirm that the First Amendment protects all viewpoints from intimidation and political abuse At the John Locke Foundation, we believe...

The North Carolina State Board of Elections (SBE) is in the process of fixing the registrations of “registered voters who do not have an N.C. driver’s license/DMV ID number or social security number in the state’s voter registration database.” Officials have identified over 100,000 such registrations since July 17 and have already corrected over 20,000...

A judge in Utah has added a new wrinkle to this year’s mid-decade redistricting fight, overturning a Republican-drawn congressional map: The Utah Legislature violated voters’ rights by approving congressional boundaries that split Salt Lake County, Third District Court Judge Dianna Gibson ruled. The overturned map cleaved Salt Lake City into each of the state’s four...

The Public Interest Legal Foundation (PILF), a nonprofit law firm “dedicated to election integrity,” sent a letter to the North Carolina State Board of Elections (SBE) on August 4 that highlighted several longstanding problems with our state’s voter rolls, affecting tens of thousands of voter registrations. The John Locke Foundation has advocated for correcting many...

On July 16, I wrote: “House Bill 958 will improve state election law and practices. Some changes and additions could make it even better.” A proposed committee substitute (PCS, basically a friendly amendment) introduced in the House Judiciary 1 Committee on July 30 makes several changes proposed in the July 16 article, making an already...

The North Carolina State Board of Elections (SBE) will work to collect missing data from hundreds of thousands of voter registrations this year. That will fix a problem the board should have fixed in 2023 and correct a decades-long mistake. SBE Executive Director Sam Hayes announced the launch of the program to the media on...

House Bill 958 has numerous election law reforms that will make North Carolina elections better administered and more secure The bill’s sections on State Board of Elections employees and the foreign funding of referendum campaigns, however, should be improved Several changes, such as adding performance election audits and removing the literacy test from the state...

ActBlue is a financial vehicle for massive numbers of small-value donations to progressive candidates Investigations into ActBlue’s practices have shown a pattern of lax security and campaign finance irregularities A congressional investigation of ActBlue has shown that they reduced their data security, making it easier to commit fraud ActBlue has become a must-have fundraising tool...

We must balance freedom of association rights with the need for manageable elections when setting rules for recognizing a political party North Carolina’s party recognition laws attempt to strike that balance The recent party-line vote at the State Board of Elections on recognizing the Green Party shows that the law needs clarification All states must...

For nearly a decade now, the composition and ownership of the North Carolina Board of Elections (NCSBE) have been a contested battle between the General Assembly and the Governor. The latest iteration of this fight now comes after the Republican supermajority in the North Carolina General Assembly passed a bill last year moving the appointment...