North Carolina governor vetoes sweeping voting restrictions

Key Points:

• North Carolina Gov. Josh Stein vetoed a GOP elections bill (HB 958) that aimed to shorten early voting, extend the period for challenging votes, and expand voter roll maintenance.
• Stein criticized the bill as an attempt by Republicans to make voting harder and to facilitate partisan challenges to ballots, calling it part of a broader GOP effort to undermine voting rights in the state.
• The bill would have reduced early voting from 17 to 10 days for primaries, runoffs, and special elections, and allowed challenges to ballots up to three business days after Election Day, raising concerns about election integrity and accessibility.
• HB 958 also included provisions requiring affirmative U.S. citizenship indication on voter registration applications and mandated the DMV to share residents’ full Social Security numbers with election officials.
• While Stein’s veto was expected, it is uncertain if Republicans have enough votes to override it, especially after previously overriding three of his vetoes earlier in the summer.