Comment on Conduct at Voting Sites 10C .0104

Please re-write the following rules into your own words. Feel free to submit more than one comment.  Email them to Alexander.Burgos@oah.nc.gov by Tuesday, August 18th, 2026.

08 NCAC 10C .0104  CONDUCT AT VOTING SITES

NCEIT PROPOSED COMMENTS:

1.     Paragraph (b) of this proposed rule uses the term “electioneering zone” which is an invented term, not supported by the NC General Statutes or U.S. Supreme Court case law.  The proper term from NCGS 163-166.4(b) is “Area(s) for Election-related Activity.”

2.     Paragraph (c) of this proposed rule is supportable, so long as the rule is clear that noise from outside the voting enclosure must be audible inside the enclosure to be considered disruptive.  This is clear in sub-paragraph (c)(1) but not in sub-paragraph (c)(2).

3.     Sub-paragraph (c)(2) should be stricken from this rule.  It potentially abridges First Amendment-protected freedoms.  The rule is poorly constructed and does not distinguish car stereos from other speakers or amplifiers, some of which should be permissible in and around voting sites.  Attempts to limit persons from playing music or using bullhorns in free speech zones like public parking lots or public sidewalks when they do not interfere with the voter or voting process, are infringements of those persons’ First Amendment rights.  Cities and counties have noise ordinances that instead should be the legal threshold for regulating audible sounds in and around voting sites.