MORRISVILLE, NC (06/09/21)— On Wednesday, Senate Bill 326, Senate BIll 724, and Senate Bill 725 passed through the Redistricting and Elections Committee, and now heads to the Rules, Calendars, and Operations Committee, where its passage is anticipated.
Under the guise of so-called “Election Integrity,” SB 326 was originally drafted as a way to rationalize anti-democracy efforts to further suppress voters, particularly Black, Brown, and Indigenous populations, that use legal and viable voting options such as voting by mail.
Now, certain anti-voter provisions that were originally in SB 326 —like restricting non profits from providing funding to local election administrators, only to provide restricted funds for a racist voter ID law— have been drafted into separate bills, fast-tracking each voter barrier without much discussion or public comment.
If SB 326 became law, it would:
- Require counties to throw out thousands of absentee ballots that arrive after 5 p.m. on Election Day, even if they were mailed before Election Day.
If SB 724 became law, it would:
- Ban certain election funding sources for under-resourced communities to help elections run safely and smoothly, particularly in emergencies.
If SB 725 became law, it would:
- Allocate millions of taxpayer dollars to enforce a racist voter ID law that is currently being litigated in court.