Articles

It is 36 days until election day on November 3. Here are some relevant upcoming dates from the North Carolina State Board of Elections: Oct. 9: Voter registration deadline Oct. 15: Early voting begins (same-day registration available) Oct. 20: Absentee ballot request deadline (5 p.m.). Oct. 31: In-person early voting ends (3 p.m.). Nov. 3:...

The North Carolina State Board of Elections (SBE) has opened a public comment period on rules governing political party committees’ plans to sell goods or services. The rules will provide a mechanism for complying with state campaign finance law. Party committee sales are exempt from finance limits The Wake County Republican Party is holding a...

After two full weeks of voting in the 2026 election, absentee voting continues to be off the 2022 pace. Perhaps a bigger story at this point is that Republican registrations have fallen so far behind the pace we should expect ahead of the November 3 election that Democrats might reemerge as North Carolina’s largest party...

As we settle into the second week of absentee voting in North Carolina, let’s take stock of how voting by mail in North Carolina stacks up to previous midterm elections. This is also a good time to look forward to what districts may be close as ballots are counted on November 3. Absentee [what about...

The North Carolina State Board of Elections (SBE) approved guidelines for county boards on handling absentee ballots during a September 4 meeting, in the form of a numbered memo. It was a 3-2 party-line vote. The new absentee ballot guidance The SBE has not yet published the guidelines on its numbered memo page. A draft...

When North Carolina voters mark their ballots for the November 3 election, they will consider three constitutional amendments. One of them states, “Constitutional amendment to require all voters, not just those presenting to vote in person, to present photo identification before voting.” In other words, people who vote absentee by mail must also present a...

North Carolina’s election began on September 4, with county boards of elections distributing absentee ballots and accepting voted ballots online from military and overseas voters. County boards accepted ten ballots that same day. With that start, we will also start a weekly review of election data. North Carolina has the longest absentee ballot voting period...

This op-ed originally appeared in the Winston-Salem Journal on August 27. While Black voters have long been the most consistent supporters of the Democratic Party, they are also some of the most politically diverse. Those traits may save the party from plunging off an extremist ideological cliff into political oblivion. More than 80 percent of...

Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s fight to withdraw his name from the ballot in 2024 exposed the need to reform North Carolina’s candidate withdrawal and absentee ballot deadline laws. Two years later, they still need reform. North Carolina starts voting long before any other state Under North Carolina law, county boards of elections must start sending...

In the summer of every federal election year, North Carolina is treated to a bit of drama over early voting sites, with Democrats and Republicans trading barbs over a handful of counties where election boards could not reach consensus on early voting sites, days, or hours. 2026 is hardly different. Following acrimony over early voting...

A Washington, D.C.–based think tank has released an election policy scorecard for all fifty states North Carolina scored relatively well across six election policy areas There is still room for improvement to make North Carolina elections better administered and more secure A national think tank recently rated all fifty states on election policy. North Carolina...

While most North Carolina General Assembly districts trend Republican, this looks like a good year for Democrats. They enjoy a 48-42.6 percent advantage over Republicans on the state legislative generic ballot, according to the August Carolina Journal poll. That means some Republican-leaning districts could go their way. Districts, however, vary in their tendency to shift...

A state auditor’s report found that, under the leadership of Town Manager Sean Stegall, the town of Cary was rife with improper spending and corrupt practices Even though Cary’s corruption was caused by the hired town manager, the council-manager system used by the town is associated with less corruption than the mayor-council system Municipalities like...

The North Carolina State Board of Elections (SBE) has proposed a series of campaign finance rules and amendments. Brief summaries of the proposals are below, along with information on how to make a public comment. Those comments are collected by SBE staff, who will present them to board members before the board votes on the...

The following is my prepared public comment presented on House Bill 958, “Election Law Changes,” at the July 28 meeting of the North Carolina Senate Committee on Elections: I am Andy Jackson with the John Locke Foundation. I speak in favor of House Bill 958. The bill provides numerous changes that will make our state...

The North Carolina State Board of Elections (SBE) adopted several rule changes on July 16. The most controversial was a change from a requirement that county elections boards need a unanimous vote of board members who find grounds for a photo ID exception form to be false to a majority vote. The new rule better...

A pair of bills in the General Assembly reflects very different views of early voting Research shows a weak relationship between early voting and voter turnout A reasonable compromise would be to reduce the number of early voting days but require one Sunday of early voting A pair of bills on early voting were submitted...

The North Carolina State Board of Elections (SBE) has proposed changes to the rules governing voting sites, specifically addressing buffer zones next to voting sites, electioneering zones, and noise that may disturb peace and good order at voting sites. I offered a public comment on those proposals at an SBE hearing on June 29. The...

The North Carolina State Board of Elections (SBE) has proposed a new section to absentee voting rules, specifically addressing how election officials should handle absentee ballots with deficiencies, such as missing required information. I offered a public comment at an SBE hearing on June 22. The prepared text of that comment is below: I am...

House Bill 958, Election Law Changes, appeared to be moving quickly through the General Assembly last year. It featured a host of election reforms, as seen in John Locke Foundation reviews of the original bill and a later amended version. But then it suddenly dropped off the radar. Now it is back, bigger and, mostly,...

This op-ed originally appeared in the Richmond Times-Dispatch and the Greensboro News & Record. It is reprinted here with their permission. 2026 has become an unexpectedly fierce mid-decade continuation of America’s ongoing gerrymandering war. North Carolina and Virginia are both battlegrounds in that war, but there is a way they can call a cease-fire on...

The North Carolina State Board of Elections (SBE) has proposed changes to voter ID rules. I offered a public comment at an SBE hearing on June 9. The prepared text of that comment is below: I am Andy Jackson with the John Locke Foundation. I support both the proposed voter ID rules changes. Many of...

The North Carolina State Board of Elections (SBE) has proposed changes to the recount process. I offered a public comment at an SBE hearing on June 8. The prepared text of that comment is below: I am Andy Jackson with the John Locke Foundation. I support the proposed rules changes for recounts. The changes to 0106...

The Jackson County Board of Elections (BOE) failed to reach a unanimous agreement on early voting site locations for the 2026 general election. That means the North Carolina State Board of Elections (SBE) will make that determination by August. There are two competing plans, each with four early voting sites, one fewer than used in...