Articles
Redistricting, changing voting paterns, alter North Carolina’s congressional district ratings
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...
Is the new congressional map a dummymander?
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...
UNC policy discussions must be held in the open
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...
Which Democrats vote with Republicans on veto overrides?
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...
Will racial gerrymandering ruling open the door for a new congressional district?
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...
One year after Helene, remembering how election officials rose to the challenge
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....
State Board of Elections is conducting 10-year rules review
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...
We can prevent noncitizen voting in North Carolina
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...
Standing up for free speech, against forced disclosure of donors
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...
Progress is being made in repairing deficient voter registrations
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...
Congressional district maps should not cleave cities asunder
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...
Letter: North Carolina has thousands of bad voter registrations
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...
Amendments improve an already good election bill
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...
Elections board finally collecting missing voter ID numbers
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...
Election bill is good, but here is how it could be better
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: troubling questions about a leftist funding behemoth
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...
Green Party drama shows that party recognition law needs tightening
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...
North Carolina’s misconception of the State Board of Elections’ history
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...
When should legislators recuse themselves?
The North Carolina General Assembly deals with a cornucopia of issues affecting people’s pocketbooks. Many of those issues affect the finances of legislators themselves. One case that has recently received attention is Rep. John Bell (R-Wayne). The chairman of the House Rules Committee has been involved in the progress of several bills related to hemp...
The Sixteen Thirty Fund: a conduit of outside money into North Carolina politics
The Sixteen Thirty Fund, “the indisputable heavyweight of Democratic dark money,” spends hundreds of millions of dollars to advance left-wing causes The fund has channeled hundreds of millions of dollars in foreign money into American elections and politics The Sixteen Thirty fund has targeted North Carolina for several years On May 5, the John Locke...
County election board mismanagement underscores the need for performance audits
The John Locke Foundation published a research brief in February calling for North Carolina to adopt election performance audits (also called procedural audits). Audits that review the vote totals, while important, are insufficient: Nevertheless, having matching sets of numbers does not, in itself, prove that election laws and procedures were followed or that results were...
Further impacts of the Griffin legal challenge
For much of the first half of 2025, Jefferson Griffin’s challenge to several of the state’s election laws took most of the air out of the election space. While a federal court rightfully rejected Griffin’s argument for changes ex post facto to North Carolina’s election laws and regulations, it allowed state Supreme Court rulings to...
House budget would let election boards hire private counsel
What do you do if you believe that the attorneys tasked with defending a state law or agency sympathize with the plaintiff? That is not an idle question, but a real problem that the United States Supreme Court has recognized since at least 1850 (Lord v. Veazie): The objection in the case before us is,...
Federal voter registration lawsuit is important but likely premature
North Carolina’s voter rolls are less secure than they should be. One reason for that reduced security is that hundreds of thousands of voter registrations are missing data that would help officials keep the rolls clean. A new lawsuit from the U.S. Department of Justice aims to correct that problem, but it will almost certainly...
