HB 691 — Voter Protection and Reliance Act (North Carolina)
Status / Key dates
- Introduced: November 12, 2024 (filed in General Assembly)
- Passed first reading and advanced through committee stages; subsequently enacted as Act No. 397 and signed by the Governor (effective June 20, 2025).
- Adds Article 15B (G.S. 163‑182.50 — 163‑182.52) to Chapter 163 (elections).
Purpose / Intent
- To protect voters’ reliance on the laws and election procedures that are in effect on the day they cast a ballot, and to reduce last‑minute or post‑election legal changes that would nullify ballots cast in good faith.
- To accelerate and centralize litigation that challenges the general applicability, interpretation, or validity of established election procedures shortly before or after an election.
Key provisions
1. Right to have a ballot counted under prevailing law and procedures (G.S. 163‑182.51)
- A citizen’s vote must be counted according to the laws and election procedures that were in effect and established on election day.
- No administrative body, court, or official may exclude votes, withhold certification, or refuse to seat a prevailing candidate based on a law, judicial ruling, or procedure that was not in effect/established on election day.
- “Established” for adjudication purposes means either:
- A constitutional provision, statute, or regulation enacted/codified before election day and administered in directives/memos on election day; or
- A directive, administrative memorandum (including “numbered memos”), procedure, or established pattern/practice of the State Board or a county board that existed on election day.
- Adjudicators must construe disputed facts and procedures in favor of the voter (i.e., resolve ambiguities to reflect voter reliance).
- Where procedures change during absentee/early voting or on election day, the procedure in effect at the moment a specific ballot was cast (or absentee/provisional submission made) governs that ballot.
Expedited litigation procedures for time‑sensitive challenges (G.S. 163‑182.52)
- Applies to: (a) actions filed within 90 days before the earliest date absentee ballots may be mailed for an election, and (b) post‑election actions that challenge an election outcome.
- “Covered action” includes civil suits and protests at the State or county board level challenging general applicability, meaning, interpretation, validity, or understanding of established election procedures.
- Centralized filing: Covered actions must be filed in the Superior Court of Wake County unless they exclusively involve a single county board’s procedures.
- Three‑judge panel: If Rule 42 criteria are met, the Superior Court judge must transfer immediately and the Chief Justice must appoint a three‑judge panel within five days.
- Expedited case management: plaintiffs must serve the State Board/appropriate authority within 24 hours; courts must hold an initial scheduling conference within 5 days; courts may shorten response deadlines and give such cases priority; appeals are to be heard on an expedited schedule.
Amendment to registration protest rule (G.S. 163‑182.9(b)(5))
- A protest alleging a voter registration error that is merely a technical/clerical mistake (e.g., incomplete form relied upon by voter) cannot invalidate a cast ballot or prevent voting unless the protester proves the registrant was actually ineligible.
Who is affected
- Voters (protection of ballots cast in good faith under contemporaneous procedures)
- State and county boards of elections (procedural reliance, directives, and patterns of practice are given weight)
- Courts (new expedited procedures, centralized jurisdiction for covered actions)
- Candidates and campaigns (limits on post‑election challenges that would alter vote counting)
- Election administrators and officials (must anticipate earlier legal challenges and document procedures/memos)
Procedural/timeline aspects to note
- The statute creates a pre‑election window (90 days before earliest absentee mailing) where challenges to broadly applicable election procedures are subject to expedited handling and central filing.
- When procedures are ambiguous or conflict, adjudicators are directed to interpret in favor of the voter’s reasonable reliance.
- The law places a premium on establishing and documenting official directives and practices before or during the voting period.
Practical implications
- Encourages litigants to bring legal challenges well before ballots are cast and discourages last‑minute or post‑election legal changes that would retroactively affect ballots.
- Prioritizes timely judicial resolution and may reduce the number of contested ballots excluded because of later legal interpretations.
- Centralizes certain election litigation in Wake County and imposes early service and rapid scheduling requirements on plaintiffs.
