The North Carolina State Board of Elections (NCSBE) voted unanimously on several items at its meeting Monday morning, including changes to voting for military and overseas voters.
The changes stem from protests by Republican Justice Jefferson Griffin, who challenged Democratic candidate Justice Allison Riggs for a seat on the state Supreme Court. In a legal dispute that moved through state and federal court, Griffin challenged more than 65,000 ballots cast in November’s General Election.
After months of litigation, Griffin conceded to Riggs six months after the election, but not before changes were made to the way overseas and military ballots were counted.
The Court of Appeals ruled that military and overseas voters must comply with the photo ID requirement when voting absentee in state and local nonfederal contests. Also, “never residents,” those with a family connection to North Carolina, for example, their parents lived here before moving overseas, are not eligible to vote in state and local elections, but can vote in federal elections.
Military and overseas voters will have to include a copy of their photo ID with their ballot or a photo ID exception form, just like civilian voters. They can upload the documents using an online portal or mail them in, but this might involve a curing process, which would be at noon three days after Election Day. County boards will use the same curing process as they do for civilian voters.
“Never residents”
On the subject of “never residents,” Paul Cox, General Counsel for the Board, said state law used to allow them to vote in all elections. But, the Court of Appeals took a look at the state constitution and said there’s a residency requirement for voting in state and local elections, but left in place the provision to vote in federal elections.
Officials weren’t exactly sure of the number of “never residents,” with the range of over 200 but under 1,000 discussed at the meeting.
Board member Jeff Carmon asked if the Board would have a campaign to alert the military of the changes and how to prepare.
Cox said they are already in discussions with the Department of Defense, which puts together a military and overseas voter guide and will update their state-specific instructions.
The Board voted unanimously in favor of the changes and the readoption of rules for same-day registrations.
Same Day registrations
Cox said there was federal litigation over changes the General Assembly made with SB 747 in 2023, in which a person who same day registers at an early voting site has to fill out an early voter registration application and have proof of residence (driver’s license or other official document). That allows them to be provisionally registered and cast a regular ballot, but the county board also runs a verification of their social security number or driver’s license and then sends the voter an address verification card.
If the county board of elections receives an undeliverable card, it will send another address verification card.
He said the General Assembly changed it to only one address verification card because the time period between early voting and confirmation of a person’s address is shorter.
However, a federal District Court ruled that a voter would have to give the voter a notice and an opportunity to address the issue if the card came back undeliverable under the single mailing decision.
Cox said it only happens for roughly 1 to 2 % of voters.
“The parties arrived at a consent settlement a few months ago to say the process that the state board was using shall be continued to be used going forward,” he said. “In other words, giving these voters another opportunity to cure that issue before their ballot is removed and their registration is removed, but we still have one case ongoing about these same-day registration changes. That’s the Democracy North Carolina case that is still pending.”
Municipal election administration
The Board also adopted an amended resolution for municipal election administration.
It includes three things: it would have the NCSBE authorizing the new county boards to extend filing by five days if they so choose and they have nonpartisan contests for which they don’t have enough filers; it would have the State Board set specific deadlines for the submission of early voting plans for municipal elections, and that the State Board’s interpretation of the law is that for September and October municipal elections canvas is seven days and not ten.
The frivolous complaint against Cumberland County BOE Chair Linda Devore was unnecessary and rightly dismissed. We thank the NCSBE for making this unanimous determination and look forward to their work on items of importance in the future.#NCPOL
— Jason Simmons (@simmonsncgop) July 21, 2025
Complaint against cumberland county Boe chair dismissed
Finally, the Board dismissed a complaint lodged against Cumberland County Board of Elections Chair Linda Devore that would disqualify her from being the chairperson because she served as the Credentials Chair for the NCGOP Convention. The Board said her position on the county board didn’t violate any laws.
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