GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF NORTH CAROLINA
SESSION 2015
H D
HOUSE DRH20036-LU-22A (12/18)
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Short Title: Same Reqs/Officials/Early Vote & Election Day. |
(Public) |
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Sponsors: |
Representative Speciale. |
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Referred to: |
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A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT ensuring that requirements for precinct officials on election day are the same for one‑stop voting locations.
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
SECTION 1. G.S. 163‑227.2 is amended by adding a new subsection to read:
"(a2) Every individual staffing any of the one‑stop voting sites pursuant to this section shall meet the same qualifications and requirements as individuals appointed as precinct officials under G.S. 163‑41. However, individuals staffing the one‑stop voting sites are not required to be residents of a specific precinct."
SECTION 2. G.S. 163‑227.2(g) reads as rewritten:
"(g) Notwithstanding any other provision of this section, a county board of elections by unanimous vote of all its members may provide for one or more sites in that county for absentee ballots to be applied for and cast under this section. Every individual staffing any of those sites shall be a member or full‑time employee of the county board of elections or an employee of the county board of elections meeting the requirements of subsection (a2) of this section and whom the board has given training equivalent to that given a full‑time employee. Those sites must be approved by the State Board of Elections as part of a Plan for Implementation approved by both the county board of elections and by the State Board of Elections which shall also provide adequate security of the ballots and provisions to avoid allowing persons to vote who have already voted. The Plan for Implementation shall include a provision for the presence of political party observers at each one‑stop site equivalent to the provisions in G.S. 163‑45 for party observers at voting places on election day. A county board of elections may propose in its Plan not to offer one‑stop voting at the county board of elections office; the State Board may approve that proposal in a Plan only if the Plan includes at least one site reasonably proximate to the county board of elections office and the State Board finds that the sites in the Plan as a whole provide adequate coverage of the county's electorate. If a county board of elections has considered a proposed Plan or Plans for Implementation and has been unable to reach unanimity in favor of a Plan, a member or members of that county board of elections may petition the State Board of Elections to adopt a plan for it. If petitioned, the State Board may also receive and consider alternative petitions from another member or members of that county board. The State Board of Elections may adopt a Plan for that county. The State Board, in that plan, shall take into consideration factors including geographic, demographic, and partisan interests of that county. Any plan adopted by either the county board of elections or the State Board of Elections under this subsection shall provide for the same days of operation and same number of hours of operation on each day for all sites in that county for that election. The requirement of the previous sentence does not apply to the county board of elections office itself nor, if one‑stop voting is not conducted at the county board of elections office, to the reasonably proximate alternate site approved under this subsection."
SECTION 3. This act is effective when it becomes law.