Background History of House Bill 958 PCS. Why the concern?

  Background History of House Bill 958 PCS.   Why the concern? 

Your Action is critical to make necessary changes to Election Law House Bill 958 PCS (Proposed Committee substitute) before the 2026 mid-terms. 

 The Good Parts: The bill bans Ranked Choice Voting, modifies vote counting and absentee ballot management, allows the Auditor to convert 25 personnel positions into exempt status allowing new hires, requires voter ID with UOCAVA ballots, amends campaign finance reporting, and requires NC School of Government to aid in training curriculum development.

The Bad Parts:  There are two sections in the bill that are of grave concern and must be fixed to assure election integrity. They are

1)     Contributions by Foreign nationals in our elections

2)    Verification of Overseas Voters’ Addresses, Voter Registration, Voter Application, and Voter Verification

Joanne Empie of our NCEIT team previously crafted two NCEIT amendments for this bill- one to ban all foreign money in all aspects of elections, and the other to require one of these UOCAVA photo ID's with the ballot submission - front and back of an unexpired Military ID, front and back of an unexpired Passport Card, or the Photo Page of a valid U.S. Passport.

Both of our Amendments were accepted, in part, into the Proposed Committee Substitute. They were presented to the Judiciary Committee and were passed. UOCAVA (Uniformed Overseas Civilian Authorization to Vote Act) voters can use the three ID's we suggested or alternatively a current NC Driver's License. There is still a carve-out for foreign dollars under certain circumstances for ballot referendums.

We submitted these amendments to Rep Hugh Blackwell, the House bill sponsor, the language recommended by America First Policy Institute, whose model policy on foreign funding of elections is sound.

The bill has been re-referred to the House Elections Committee and shows no sign of moving beyond the House before Spring 2026. At least one more PCS is likely in the House Elections Committee. Joanne Empie authored several additional proposals for the still-pending bill over the past month. These PCS proposals are being submitted this week to the House (Rep. Blackwell's assistant). They include verification of UOCAVA overseas addresses; Changes to the Voter Registration Form; Requirement of proof of citizenship to be qualified to vote; Limiting the use of HAVA documents; and Disposition of registrations where DL# and/or SSN's do not match upon look-ups.