The General Assembly has unfinished business with election reform

The North Carolina General Assembly finally passed a budget in June, and only one year behind schedule. While that is a source of relief, if not exactly joy, the legislature still has some unfinished business when it returns to session in the last week of July.

One of those items is House Bill (HB) 958. The bill, sponsored by Rep. Hugh Blackwell, R-Burke, is simply titled “Election Law Changes.”

Despite the unassuming name, the bill’s changes to election law would be extensive and help make North Carolina’s elections run more effectively and securely. Among other things, the bill would:

• Give officials more time to “cure” absentee ballots: The deadline for curing ballots would increase from three business days after Election Day to five, giving officials more time to reach out to voters while still ensuring the process is completed well before ballots are canvassed (officially counted).
• Clarify military and overseas voter ID rules: It would clarify that military and overseas voters must submit copies of their photo IDs with their ballots, as other voters do.
• Prevent “never residents” from voting in North Carolina: It would remove a provision that allows overseas residents to vote in North Carolina based on their parents’ having once lived in the state. Last month, a Superior Court judge found that the provision violated the North Carolina Constitution.
• Bring election performance audits to North Carolina: The audits would be conducted regularly to ensure that election law and best practices are followed at every step of the process, from voter registration to ballot handling.
• Protect party nominations from fake members: The party membership requirement for someone seeking to run as a party nominee would increase from 90 days before candidate filing to 365 days. This provision is in response to a rash of people changing their affiliation at the last minute to run as Republicans in the 2026 primary.

Despite those reforms and others in the bill, HB 958 has yet to pass the General Assembly. Blackwell filed it in April 2025, but it bounced around several committees and never made it to a floor vote that year. It languished in committee purgatory until an amended version passed the House on June 30.

By then, the legislature was winding down, and the Senate never considered it before members left Raleigh for Independence Day.

The General Assembly will be back in session the week of July 27. This will be legislators’ best, and perhaps last, chance to pass significant election reform for at least three years, depending on the results of November’s election.

The Senate could either pass HB 958 as is or pass its own version and hammer out the differences with the House through a conference committee. The latter is preferable if the goal is to pass legislation that will become law.

The bill passed the House 66-47 on a party-line vote. Gov. Josh Stein is expected to veto it if it gets to his desk. While Republicans have a veto-proof majority in the Senate, they are one vote short in the House.

Two of the “no” votes in the House came from Shelly Willingham, D-Edgecombe; and Carla Cunningham (a former Democrat from Mecklenburg County who has changed to unaffiliated). Both representatives were successfully primaried by Democratic Party leaders last March as punishment for occasionally voting with Republicans and are immune from political threats for the remainder of their time in the legislature.

Backers of the bill could ensure a successful override vote either by getting one of those two to vote for the bill or by convincing both to stay away from the legislature on the day of the override vote. The latter appears to have happened in late June, when they attended committee meetings in the morning only to disappear during veto override votes that afternoon.

Either way, the bill’s backers may have to accept changes to it in the conference committee.

While there has been real progress in improving election administration and security in North Carolina over the past several years, there is still more to do. Making HB 958 law would be a big step in the right direction, even if it is weakened somewhat in the process. Legislative leaders should do what it takes to make these reforms a reality.

“The General Assembly has unfinished business with election reform” was originally published on www.carolinajournal.com.