N.C. Legislature gives final approval to provisional vote law

The Associated Press   01 March 2005

RALEIGH, N.C. On the eve of a key court hearing, the General Assembly gave final legislative approval Tuesday to a provisional ballot bill that could bring lawmakers into contention with the courts.

The state House approved the measure in a 61-54 vote with Democrats contending that it affirms a 2003 law allowing the counting of out-of-precinct ballots cast on Election Day.

The bill now goes to Gov. Mike Easley to be signed into law.

If could be discussed at a Wake County court hearing Wednesday afternoon, when candidates for the pending state school superintendent's race and state attorneys argue over a Supreme Court ruling throwing out out-of-precinct ballots.

Republican Bill Fletcher trails Democrat June Atkinson by 8,535 votes in the superintendent's race. Fletcher successfully argued before the justices that state law requires voters to cast ballots on Election Day in the precinct in which they are registered.

State election officials say 11,310 ballots could be discarded. A report by Democracy North Carolina predicted that throwing out all the provisional votes would not alter the outcome of the race.

But Fletcher believes there may be thousands more among the 3.3 million ballots cast for the election that haven't been identified. He has suggested a method to those unlawful ballots as well.

Democrats unhappy with the ruling pushed through the bill they contend affirms the right of voters to have their ballots count for races in which they were qualified to vote.

In similar party-line votes, Democrats rejected two GOP amendments during House debate. One would have kept the law from applying to the superintendent's race.

"We should not be changing the rules after the ballots have been cast," said Rep. Tim Moore, R-Cleveland.

House Speaker Jim Black, D-Mecklenburg, said he hoped Judge Henry Hight, who will hear the case, Wednesday will examine the bill in making his decision.

"We know what the law said a couple of years ago. We know what our intent was," Black said. "The court was not here and they may read something and read it a different way."

Should Hight apply the new law to the superintendent's race, legislative leaders or Fletcher's attorneys could appeal that decision back to the Supreme Court.

The state Senate, meanwhile, delayed again a final vote on a separate measure laying out rules under which the Legislature may resolve disputed elections - including the superintendent race. The bill sponsor, Sen. Dan Clodfelter, D-Mecklenburg, said a question remained about a change made to the measure in the House.

Atkinson has said she plans to ask the General Assembly to pick a winner when that bill becomes law.