Bill > H958

This bill makes several changes to North Carolina's election laws, primarily focused on the administration of elections and campaign finance. Key provisions include allowing county boards of elections to suspend or remove precinct officials for various reasons, establishing a new section for these suspensions and removals, and clarifying the eligibility of individuals to serve as precinct officials, including prohibiting candidates for office and those holding political party positions. The bill also modifies rules for emergency election-day assistants, expands the training requirements for election officials, and allows for observers in nonpartisan elections. It adjusts the timing of municipal elections and primaries, and increases the residency requirement for party primary candidates from 90 days to 365 days, with a provision for waivers. Furthermore, the bill mandates the use of federal decennial census data for establishing district boundaries and modifies how voter registration data is shared and processed, including requiring affirmative confirmation of U.S. citizenship on voter registration applications and establishing new procedures for handling and challenging ballots, including those cast during early voting. The bill also introduces post-election audits by the State Auditor to review election systems and controls, and revises campaign finance regulations by increasing thresholds for noncash reporting, candidate campaign committee exemptions, independent expenditure reporting, and 48-hour reports for contributions, while also exempting certain political party committees from campaign sales reporting requirements. Many of these changes are set to take effect on January 1, 2027.