The News & Observer

North Carolina's Republican-controlled State Board of Elections voted Friday, hours before mail-in ballots were set to go out to more than 46,000 voters, to change how officials decide whether to count them. Issued through a numbered memo rather than permanent rulemaking, the new standards require disqualifying ballots when signatures don't match the application on record, restrict in-person delivery to a near relative or legal guardian, mandate "spoiling" a ballot if multiple are returned in one envelope, and require rejection if the inner envelope is improperly sealed. The board's two Democrats dissented, with member Siobhan Millen arguing the move sidesteps the board's own stated commitment to permanent rulemaking and directly affects whether ballots count. Republican member Stacy Eggers called it updated guidance for county-level processing.

The change comes amid separate national litigation over a Trump executive order requiring states to share voter lists with USPS and pre-approve ballot envelope designs, which 25 states are suing to block and a judge has already paused; the Justice Department has asked the Supreme Court to let it proceed for November's elections.