What we know about voting in November, and what could still change

We go deep with Lynn Bonner of NC Newsline on what is new when it comes to voting and elections in North Carolina.

Welcome back to Down from DC, where we keep up with decisions made in DC and explain how they affect all of us here in NC.

The U.S. Supreme Court issued a ruling late last month that set off another round of major changes to the electoral landscape with just months left before the midterm election. That ruling made congressional districts drawn to concentrate Black voters and benefit Black candidates – a longstanding practice under the Voting Rights Act – unconstitutional. Many southern states, among them Louisiana, where the case originated, Tennessee, Alabama, and South Carolina, are now rushing to redraw their maps. In some cases, that’s happening even after primaries have taken place.

North Carolina isn’t likely to join our neighboring states in the race to act on that ruling, says Lynn Bonner, who reports on elections for NC Newsline. The Republican-led legislature here already passed a set of maps designed to favor the GOP more heavily.

“There is not much more to do on the congressional level in North Carolina for Republicans, but I think where the action is going to be is at the municipal level, how counties and cities and towns might change their districts to limit Black representation,” Bonner told me in a recent conversation.

President Trump cheered the Supreme Court decision moments after it was announced. “That’s the kind of ruling I like,” he said.

It follows – and bolsters – his own more direct efforts to shape the electoral picture in a year when his relatively low popularity threatens his party’s chances of keeping control of Congress. In addition to pressing GOP state lawmakers to redraw congressional maps, Trump continues to press for more federal control over elections. He recently issued an executive order to limit mail-in ballots, which he falsely claims are part of rampant voter fraud across the country. That executive order has been challenged in court.

The new SCOTUS ruling, those Trump efforts, and similar efforts by the North Carolina GOP add up to a host of changes and potential confusion for voters heading into the 2026 midterms. We normally try to break things down in simple terms for DFDC readers, but with all that going on, we asked Bonner to wade into the nitty gritty with us. We are sharing a transcript of our conversation (which has been lightly edited for length and clarity) below.

Lynn said in our conversation that these matters move fast, and she was right. Just days after we spoke, Republicans in the NC Senate introduced a bill to shorten the early voting period in October to 10 days from 17.

We hope this information helps, but we want to know what’s still on your mind after you read. Send us your questions about voting and elections to downfromdc@gmail.com.

Phoebe: States across the Southeast are scrambling to redraw their congressional districts now that the Supreme Court has ruled against districts that make it easier for Black candidates to win elections, a decision that critics say guts the Voting Rights Act. Partisan gerrymandering remains legal and because Black voters tend to be registered Democrats, it can be hard to untangle race and party affiliation. How do you expect this to play out in North Carolina?

Lynn: Before that decision, I asked a voting rights lawyer whether North Carolina would go back and redistrict again, and he said no, that Republicans had pretty much done all they could do to maximize their chances in North Carolina.

You remember last year, Republicans redrew a district in northeast and eastern North Carolina that is now represented by Don Davis, a Black congressman. When that district was challenged in court, [state] Senator Ralph Hise, elections committee chairman, said, well, we did it so that we could get another Republican seat. There is not much more to do on the congressional level in North Carolina for Republicans, but I think where the action is going to be is at the municipal level, how counties and cities and towns might change their districts to limit Black representation. If we see a lot of counties or cities going to at-large elections and eliminating wards or districts, that might be where all of the action is.

Phoebe: Another factor that makes it tough for some North Carolinians to vote is the state’s voter ID requirement. The NAACP has challenged that requirement, a federal judge, Loretta Biggs, recently denied the lawsuit. Can you talk about the status of NC’s voter ID requirement?

Lynn: The NAACP is appealing, but it’s doubtful anything is going to happen on the appeals court level before November. So practically, voter ID is in effect. The NAACP was challenging it based on the Voting Rights Act and a couple of constitutional amendments. Given what has happened in the meantime with the U.S. Supreme Court and the Voting Rights Act, I have questions about whether that appeal is going to be successful but nobody can predict what the Supreme Court is going to do.

Phoebe: Speaking of voter ID, there’s a referendum on the ballot in November to amend the N.C. Constitution to require voter ID. Since we already have Voter ID, what’s the story behind that?

Lynn: Well, this is a constitutional amendment to amend a constitutional amendment we already have. Voters passed a constitutional amendment for voter ID back in 2018 and this would change that to say that voter ID is required even if you’re not voting in person. So people who are voting by absentee ballot have to show ID, which they already do. I asked one of the bill sponsors, why not just change the law to say that? And his response was, well if we make it an amendment then it would be harder for future Legislatures to change, which is true.

I’d also like to point out that we are in a midterm election year where the president’s party is expected to lose seats. I think we can expect to see some things on the ballot in November that would be of particular interest in driving Republicans to vote even though they might be kind of be iffy about voting and voter ID is one of those things. It passed with 55% in 2018 … There’s also going to be a tax cap constitutional amendment on the ballot. There are others being discussed about the right to farm … If I were a cynical person, I would say maybe this is really about driving Republicans to the polls.

Phoebe: What else is the Legislature doing this session that could affect voting in November?

Lynn: Senate leader Phil Berger has talked about how the early voting period is too long. That’s something that we hear a lot about from Republican leaders. On the federal level, a piece of legislation called the SAVE Act would require people to show documented proof of citizenship to vote. That has stalled in the Senate, but there are, I guess, about a half dozen states that have passed their own versions of this law. There’s always this murmuring in the background that North Carolina might try to do this. But we’re getting close to November and we have not yet seen a bill like that. But anything can pop up. Legislators save a lot of the controversial stuff for late in the session and put a lot of it into the budget where people can’t suggest changes. It’s hard to say now what they’re going to do, if anything, but I always have my eyes open.

Phoebe: The N.C. Board of Elections, led by Republicans as are all the local boards, regulates how elections are run. You’ve reported on a number of new rules that will affect who can vote, whether their ballot will be counted and what local boards of elections can do. Can you explain the implications of some of these new rules?

Bonner: These are proposed rules and the public comment period for them has just opened and will be open until July 14th, so anyone who wants to comment on these rules can do so. The board will collect public comment and hold a public hearing before voting on the proposed changes. Those changes must then be approved by a body called the Rules Review Commission before they go into effect. The biggest one makes it easier for local boards of election to throw out a ballot when a person does not show voter ID. The way it works now is someone who doesn’t have an ID for some reason can file an exemption form saying, well I was not able to get a ride to the Board of Elections before voting to get a free ID or I couldn’t get to the DMV to get an ID. I saw one exemption from a person who said their car was repossessed with their license in the glove compartment so they were not able to retrieve it to show at the polls. As it is now, if an election board does not believe the reason, they can hold a hearing. In order to actually throw out that ballot, you need a unanimous vote of all five board members. What the change does is require only a majority, so only three board members would have to vote to throw out a ballot. I wonder what the standard is going to be for investigating whether someone has told the truth on their exemption form. There’s another proposed rule that would ban bullhorns or amplification outside the polling place. In 2024, there was a national group that had DJs at polling places as a kind of get-out-the-vote, just a party atmosphere kind of thing.

Phoebe: It’s already illegal for someone who is not a citizen to register to vote, but you recently reported on new rules about reviewing the registration rolls for non-citizens and removing those names.

Lynn: The proposed rules would set out a process for what would happen if someone was flagged as someone without citizenship. Late last year, the board just took up Homeland Security’s offer to feed all the voter registration data into a Homeland Security database that’s usually used to check for citizenship to see if people are eligible for public benefits or licenses. This database is being repurposed for checking voter registrations but the question is what happens if this system flags somebody? The concern about that has been from the beginning that this federal database produces a lot of errors and states that started using this first found that a number of people were flagged who were actual citizens and it appears that the system has, the federal system has a problem catching up with naturalizations. You know naturalized citizens are obviously eligible to vote but it appears that this federal database doesn’t recognize that quickly enough. And so people who are registered naturalized citizens were being flagged as non-citizens.

Phoebe: The president recently signed an order limiting mail-in ballots. It’s been challenged by Democratic attorneys general, including Jeff Jackson here in North Carolina. But could you talk about how those restrictions on mail-in ballots will affect North Carolinians?

Lynn: It involves a complicated passing of voter lists between the states and Homeland Security and the Postal Service where the Postal Service would be prohibited from delivering an absentee ballot to someone who is on this list. It’s kind of a dance between the states, Homeland Security and the Postal Service. As far as I know, the Postal Service at this point does not have a list of voters to not deliver ballots to. The order has been challenged in court and my sense is that a federal judge is going to say this is unconstitutional, so it’s still an open question at this point. It doesn’t seem like North Carolina is moving to enact this, but NOTUS reported that some states are starting to to move ahead with this. But it’s certainly something to watch, especially since this lawsuit is still in progress.

Phoebe: We’ve talked a little bit about the federal SAVE Act already, but are there any provisions that while it’s stalled in the Senate North Carolina is enacting locally?

Lynn: Well, something that’s flown a little bit under the radar is that the Board of Elections used to supply people who conduct voter registration drives with voter registration forms. And they decided, well, we’re not going to do that anymore. You’ve got to print them out on your own, which is a restriction for organizations that conduct drives, mostly nonprofits that have limited budgets. There is no law against voter registration drives [but] this move really limits voter registration drives.

Phoebe: Are there other changes on the horizon in North Carolina that voters should know about as we’re all making plans to vote in November?

Lynn: Something that I am watching for is where early voting sites are going to be approved for November. You remember there was a controversy over eliminating the early voting site at Western Carolina University for the primary, a campus that has had a site in the primaries and general elections for years. One of the things I’m going to be watching is where those sites are going to be for November, if they’re going to be on campuses. and if there is going to be some issue about where they go into communities as well. And I’m watching campuses for a particular reason because the state Board of Elections Chairman told me that he really doesn’t like campus sites because of the parking issue. That it’s hard for people to park. But I think it’s also important to mention that there’s a GOP lawyer, Cleta Mitchell, who has said numerous times that she thinks it’s too easy for college students to vote and has criticized campus sites. So there is kind of a stir against campus sites among the GOP.

Phoebe: We’ve been deep into the nitty gritty, but the larger question is whether we’re going to have fair and free elections in North Carolina, whether people who are eligible to vote will be able to vote, and whether their votes will be counted. What’s your assessment?

Lynn: I’ve been covering elections and voting for a long time. For the most part, there have been no huge problems with people getting their votes counted. But, you know, there are more and more challenges to voters, more and more challenges in lawsuits against voting and voting regulations, and whether the laws are being followed. We saw a slew of lawsuits a few years ago over voter registrations, overseas and military voters and what documents they must show.

This year, we’re going into a general election with recently changed rules - where local boards of election will have just a few days to count absentee ballots and provisional ballots. For local elections boards, that means contacting voters whose mail-in ballot envelopes had mistakes and asking them for corrections, and researching voters who cast provisional ballots to see if they are registered and for which races they can vote in. In many counties, doing this work will be a race against the clock.

We are grateful to Lynn for taking the time to speak with us. You can find more of her work at ncnewsline.com or follow her at @lbonner.bsky.social. If you found our conversation useful, we hope you will share the link with friends and neighbors and if you haven’t already, please subscribe.