Votes That Won't Be Counted

Under the new voter ID law just passed in North Carolina, thousands of votes that used to be counted will not be counted. Which ones? Surprisingly, it will be every vote on a ballot that is cast in the wrong precinct, even if the voter shows proper ID and receives the right ballot.

Under the old law, if a voter came into the wrong precinct but was otherwise properly registered to vote in the county, he was given the choice as to whether to go to his correct precinct and vote there, or vote a provisional ballot in the wrong precinct. As poll workers, we always encouraged the voter to go to his correct precinct, but sometimes the voter would say, "Oh, I don't care about all those little races. I just want to vote for President, or Governor, or Senator."

If the voter insisted on voting a provisional ballot in the wrong precinct, he would be given a ballot style that most closely matched the ballot style he would have received if he had gone to his correct precinct. His voted ballot would be placed in a provisional ballot envelope, the staff of the county BOE would then research what ballot the voter should have received, and then create a "dummy" ballot showing the races the voter was eligible to vote in. After the county BOE approved the partial counting of the ballot, the provisional envelope would be opened, and the votes for candidates in the races in which the voter voted which showed up on the "dummy" ballot would be counted.

Now, under the law recently passed, none of the votes on a provisional ballot will count if the voter is not in his correct precinct. What is the rationale for not counting the votes in races that appear on EVERY ballot, such as President, Governor, or US Senator? I honestly can't think of one. And I believe this provision may run afoul of the North Carolina Constitution. ("Every person born in the United States and every person who has been naturalized, 18 years of age, and possessing the qualifications set out in this Article, shall be entitled to vote at any election by the people of the State, except as herein otherwise provided."....and "Removal from one precinct, ward, or other election district to another in this State shall not operate to deprive any person of the right to vote in the precinct, ward, or other election district from which that person has removed until 30 days after the removal.")

Fun side note: There were occasional happy instances when a voter in the wrong precinct was able to receive the correct ballot style anyway. That situation sometimes occurred when a voter went to a nearby precinct (but nevertheless the wrong one) to vote. No more!