Federal judge won't block NC's new mail-in ballot rules from taking effect

Kyle Ingram, The News & Observer on Oct 19, 2026

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RALEIGH, N.C. — A federal judge declined to block North Carolina’s new mail-in ballot rules from taking effect, ruling that it would be “infeasible” to do so since voting has already begun.

U.S. District Judge Thomas Schroeder, an appointee of President George W. Bush, issued the 72-page ruling Monday evening — less than a week after hearing arguments in the case.

The plaintiffs in the case, a group of advocacy organizations that included the North Carolina Alliance for Retired Americans, challenged last-minute changes to how mail-in ballots are processed that they argued would “inevitably disenfranchise” voters.

In particular, they opposed a rule that disqualifies any mail-in ballot if the inner envelope is not sealed and another rule that requires election officials to verify that the voter’s signature matches their name.

“Neither of the two challenged provisions, which are clearly stated on the absentee ballot materials ... is burdensome, much less unduly so,” Schroeder wrote in his order.

The order also criticized plaintiffs for their delay in bringing the case, noting that the lawsuit was not filed until 18 days after the rules took effect.

At last week’s hearing in Winston-Salem, lawyers for the plaintiffs said they moved as fast as possible to file the lawsuit and noted that the State Board of Elections did not approve the new rules until hours before mail-in ballots were sent to voters.

Now, mail-in ballots have already been returned and processed under the new rules — which would lead to confusion if they were to be reversed, Schroeder said.

“It is highly probable that some voters whose absentee ballot was spoiled under current practice have since voted either by another absentee ballot or in person during ongoing early voting,” Schroeder wrote. “If an absentee ballot was spoiled because of a sealing issue, for example, which ballot should be counted? And what if the votes for candidates differed between ballots?”

At a minimum, dozens of mail-in ballots have already been “spoiled” because the inner envelope was not sealed. Wake County Board of Elections member Gerry Cohen reported that Wake officials rejected 40 ballots for this reason at their latest meeting, which represented 2.5% of the total mail-in ballots.

When a ballot is spoiled, the voter is notified and issued another mail-in ballot, or given the opportunity to vote in person.

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