After Supreme Court Ruling on Witness Requirement, Stein and Cooper Should Immediately Stop Their Crusade To Undo Absentee Ballot Protections | Eastern North Carolina Now

Press Release:

    Raleigh, NC     Last night the Supreme Court of the United States upheld the witness requirement for South Carolina's absentee ballots. This decision from the Supreme Court comes after a District Court ruling this weekend, U.S. District Judge James Dever halted Attorney General Josh Stein and the state election board's attempt to overturn statutory absentee protections in the middle of the election. Judge Dever issued a temporary restraining order preventing the unconstitutional, collusive settlement from going into effect. This humiliating defeat in federal court confirms what Republicans have been saying since the settlement first surfaced. Democrat Governor Cooper's Board of Elections and Democrat Attorney General Josh Stein bold attempt to rewrite North Carolina law was wholly inappropriate and illegal.

    Instead of following the Federal Court order, Cooper's Board of Election following advice from Stein's lawyers issued a memo halting the curing of deficient absentee ballots. This decision to refuse to cure any ballots creates an unnecessary stockpile of defective ballots that the county boards are not allowed to work with voters to cure. Additionally, this memo may be in direct violation of the order because instead of fixing the problem it creates a backlog, and given the recent Supreme Court upholding the witness requirements the Democrats should stop trying to obstruct this election and simply follow the law.

    "The Supreme Court of the United States has upheld witness requirements for absentee ballots, so it is time for Stein and Cooper's handpicked leaders at the NCSBE to focus on enforcing the law as written and holding a fair and safe election for North Carolina," said NCGOP Press Secretary Tim Wigginton. "It is utterly unacceptable for Attorney General Stein to seek to undo the duly enacted laws he swore an oath to uphold for partisan advantage. Voters, county boards, and poll workers need certainty in the election system. They must stop their transparently partisan attempt to change the rules after over 300,000 North Carolinians have already voted."

• Contact: Tim Wigginton
•     communications@ncgop.org