All On The Line Statement on North Carolina General Assembly House Bill 1169

This week, the North Carolina Senate will likely take up House Bill 1169 for a vote after the North Carolina House of Representatives passed the bill on May 28. All On The Line State Director Lekha Shupeck released the following statement ahead of the vote:

“We do acknowledge that House Bill 1169 started out primarily as a limited, but well-intentioned set of reforms designed to bolster the state’s democratic process amid the global health crisis. However, largely due to North Carolina’s gerrymandered legislature, we are left with a bill that is now deeply flawed. Conservative NCGA senators have loaded HB1169 with permanent measures meant to undermine the fairness of our elections rather than remaining focused on solving the real problems that North Carolina voters will face in November. This bill will now force legislators to choose between enabling measures that hurt our democracy and giving no relief at all to North Carolina voters.

“At no point should any North Carolina voter have to choose between their health and exercising their constitutional right to vote. At this point, HB1169 is both inadequate in fully addressing the health crisis we are facing and creates new obstacles to fair and safe elections for all voters. North Carolinians deserve far better than this bill. The NCGA should throw out this dangerous bill and commit to making comprehensive reforms that properly address the challenges of voting during a pandemic.”

All On The Line is calling on legislators to enact legislation adopting these reforms:

• postage-paid absentee ballots and requests

• extended deadlines to include all ballots postmarked by election day 

• the elimination of the absentee ballot witness requirement

• freedom for county election boards to determine early-vote hours

• additional funding to the State Boards of Elections to cover costs of these common-sense reforms

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