Action Alert: CONDUCT AT VOTING SITES

• Choose a Suggestion and Rationale for the Conduct at Voting Sites rule. (You may pick more than one. Treat each one in a separate entry for Public Comment.)

• Please rephrase the Suggestion and Rationale into your own words so the NCSBE treats each submission separately.

• Then click on the Public Comment Portal at the bottom of the page to submit your Comment.

• Email Jane.bilello@gmail.com with the Rule and comment you submitted so we can keep track of submissions. Thanks.

 08 NCAC 10C .0104

(a)

Suggestion:

Broaden the location which is subject to control by the county board of elections to the “vicinity of the voting site property” rather than the “portion of the voting site”.

Rationale:

This Rule should apply to persons who are located in the larger area surrounding the voting site, subject to the control of the county board of election.  The First Amendment protects speech outside of buffer zones at voting sites per U.S. Supreme Court Case Law. See Burson v. Freeman, 504 U.S. 191, 210 (1992) (“At some measurable distance from the polls, of course, governmental regulation of vote solicitation could effectively become an impermissible burden.”); Daily Herald Co. v. Munro, 838 F.2d 380, 389 (9th Cir. 1988) (“[Statute] which prohibits exit polling within 300 feet of the polling place on election day, is unconstitutional on its face.”); see also United States v. Grace, 461 U.S. 171, 176-77 (1983).

(b)

Suggestion: Remove the term “electioneering zone” and replace with “election-related activity”.  Election related activity should only be occurring outside the buffer zone. “

Rationale:

NC law does not use the term electioneering zones. Persons at a voting site shall only engage in election-related activities while outside the designated buffer zone..

 Election officials must focus their attention and energy to the processes of assisting and protecting voters inside the voting enclosure.  It is wholly inappropriate for election officials to become distracted with activities outside the voting enclosure except when the outside activities are the subject of a legitimate voter complaint or until that activity disrupts or impedes the voting processes within the voting enclosure.

(c)

Suggestions:

1. Broaden the type of noise to disruptive noise rather than limiting the type of noise for the judge to address the noise. The disruption is to the voting process not the voting site.  Broaden the location to” in the vicinity of the voting site” rather than “outside” the voting place.

Rationale:

Noise is a form of speech and it must not be infringed until and unless it intimidates a voter, or disrupts or interferes with the voting process inside the voting enclosure.

Suggestion:

2. Delete section (c)(2).

Rationale:

Section (c)(2) is not needed because any type of noise and the remedy for the noise has already been addressed in other sections.  Sound amplification devices are one of many means that can cause disruptive noise.

Suggestion:

3. Add a new section to direct the chief judge to contact law enforcement to compel reduction in noise and remove the offending person,

Rationale:

Election officials are not adequately trained and educated on law enforcement matters and should not be empowered to engage in law enforcement activities.  That would be a distraction from their principal duties as described in statute.  Instead, election officials should engage law enforcement officials, as appropriate, to enforce local ordinances, for conflict resolution, and to remove persons who disrupt the voting process within or in the vicinity of election sites.

Election officials have no legal authority to regulate activities on public sidewalks, public parking lots, or other public access areas that are outside the statutory 25 to 50-foot buffer zones.  In some such cases, attempts to exercise unauthorized authority could be a violation of a federal criminal statute: 18 U.S. Code Section 245 (Federally Protected Activities). 

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After you have rephrased the Suggestion of your choice into your own words:

• Click on  Public Comment Portal: https://www.ncsbe.gov/public-comment-portal-2026-rulemaking-voting-sites

• Scroll down to the form, Record Your Public Comment.

• Fill in the form with the Rule, Your Name, Your Email, and Comment. 

We are trying to keep track of numbers of folks who commented. Please, when you complete your public comment, email Jane at jane.bilello@gmail.com with the rule(s) you submitted for Public Comment. Thank you.