Senate passes bill to count out-of-precinct ballots

The N.C. Senate continued to establish its jurisdiction over the long-contested race for state superintendent of public instruction by passing a bill allowing 11,000 provisional ballots to be counted.

The N.C. Supreme Court sided with Republican candidate Bill Fletcher earlier this month in deciding that 11,000 provisional ballots should be thrown out. Democratic candidate June Atkinson leads Fletcher by about 8,500 votes out of approximately 3 million cast.

But the new bill, introduced by Sen. Daniel Clodfelter, D-Mecklenburg, clarified what the law states — a provisional ballot should still count if cast out of precinct as long as the voter is registered.

This proposed legislation follows another bill passed last week in the Senate that established the procedure for dealing with contested races.

Both bills would retroactively affect the superintendent race, a fact that Republicans say smacks of partisanship.

“This is a partisan piece of legislation, which totally breaks with historical precedent of how election issues have been resolved,” Rep. Curtis Blackwood, R-Union, said.

In addition to the partisan issue, Republicans also are concerned with the General Assembly’s attempts to override the Supreme Court’s legitimate rulings.

Sen. Austin Allran, R-Catawba, voiced concerns about confusion at the polls if voters are allowed to vote out of their precincts.

“We had a lot of testimony in our electronic study commission from election supervisors who said letting people vote out of precinct greatly increases chances for mistakes,” he said.

But Democrats said the point of the bill is to clarify a pre-existing law on provisional ballots and to make sure that 11,000 voters were not disenfranchised.

Ferrel Guillory, director of UNC’s Program on Southern Politics, Media and Public Life, said the legislature had a right to propose the bill because the legislature is supposed to protect voters’ rights and encourage people to vote.

“Eleven thousand or so people who cast these ballots went to vote, and they went to vote legally,” Guillory said.

Now the proposed legislation will go to the House, and neither Republicans nor Democrats will be surprised if the bill inspires more debate in that chamber.

House Majority Leader Joe Hackney, D-Orange, said he thinks the bill would be passed regardless of partisan issues.

“I have a hard time believing anybody would vote to not count provisional ballots when voters were directed as to how to do it based on the election officials’ good faith and understanding of the law,” he said.

Whether in the court or through legislation, all involved say they want to find a resolution to the race and make sure future contested races are decided fairly and expeditiously.

“I hope (the bill) does (end the race),” said Rep. Larry Bell, D-Sampson. “I think it’s gone on long enough. We’re talking about having an election in Iraq go well, and then we can’t have one in our own country.”

Contact the State & National Editor at stntdesk@unc.edu.