Tillis says he has ‘grave concerns’ about voting by mail in NC after board settlement
U.S. Sen. Thom Tillis said Thursday he has “grave concerns” about North Carolina’s absentee by-mail system, less than two days after he said he had so much faith in the system that he challenged his Democratic challenger, Cal Cunningham, to vote by mail.
Tillis’ about-face comes after the North Carolina State Board of Elections unanimously agreed Tuesday to a tentative settlement outlining a series of changes to the absentee by-mail system. Wednesday, both of the board’s Republican members unexpectedly resigned, saying they were misled during the settlement discussion, a claim that a Board of Elections spokesperson disputed.
The Republican senator’s new comments came Thursday morning on “Henry Hinton’s Talk of the Town” radio show out of Greenville.
“I have said in the last two debates that I trusted the absentee ballot system in North Carolina, until yesterday,” Tillis said during the show. “And now, I have grave concerns about North Carolina Board of Elections, non-legislators, taking a position that’s only slightly better than the horrible decision that came out of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court.”
He was referring to last week’s decision in Pennsylvania that could make it easier for people to vote by mail but also could lead to some votes being thrown out due to mistakes, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported.
Damon Circosta, chairman of the N.C. State Board of Elections, said Thursday that the provisions in the settlement are intended to give voters certainty about the process, The News & Observer reported.
“Our board, both Democrats and Republicans, agreed unanimously to make these commonsense changes to our process amid the COVID-19 pandemic,” he said when the settlement was announced. “We have ensured that our election process is secure and accessible.”
A spokesman for the state board of elections said Wednesday night that lawyers briefed the elections board members before the settlement vote and provided “thorough legal memos to the board prior to every board meeting and answer any questions board members have about matters that come before the board.”
As part of the state board’s lawsuit settlement with an advocacy group representing retirees, voters will have an easier time fixing mistakes on their mail-in ballots. The settlement would also allow more time for ballots to arrive after election day and still be counted and it would allow for drop boxes where voters could place their ballots instead of sending them by mail, The News & Observer reported earlier.
Voters can “cure” a mistake if they complete and return an affidavit sent to them by their county board of elections, according to the state board. Among the mistakes that can be fixed: voter did not sign, voter signed in the wrong place, witness or assistant did not print name or address or did not sign or signed in the wrong place.
A judge must still approve the settlement.
More than 1 million absentee by-mail requests have been made in North Carolina, and nearly 200,000 voters have returned their accepted ballots already, according to state board data.
But Republican lawmakers in the state are furious over the changes. Lt. Gov. Dan Forest, who is running for governor, asked the Trump administration to investigate the state’s Democrats over mail-in voting.
Tillis said Thursday on the radio show that “what the board of elections did yesterday was not necessary.”
He said he has received an absentee by-mail ballot and filled it out.
“Now they have undermined the integrity of the process in North Carolina. It’s a sad day,” he said.
N.C. Attorney General Josh Stein, a Democrat, disputed Republicans’ accusations earlier Thursday, though not Tillis’ comments specifically, saying they’re intended to create confusion and distrust in the elections, The N&O reported.
“This is political theater at its most destructive,” Stein told The News & Observer in a written statement. “The Republican Party needs to start respecting democracy, instead of undermining it.”
State law prohibits anyone but the voter, a voter’s near relative or legal guardian from returning an absentee ballot. North Carolina has set up a way to track absentee by-mail ballots at northcarolina.ballottrax.net/voter/.
Registered Democrats have dominated both ballot requests (494,072) and ballots cast (54.5%). Republicans have lagged in both requests (179,279) and returned ballots (15.9%).
In Tuesday’s debate, which was televised across the state, Tillis called on Cunningham to vote absentee by-mail. Both candidates said they had faith in North Carolina’s system, but Cunningham — calling himself a “little bit of a traditionalist” — said he planned to vote early in person.
Tillis said Tuesday that he “had so much confidence in vote by mail system” and he had voted many times by mail.
“The North Carolina absentee ballot no-excuse voting system is a great way to vote,” Tillis said Tuesday. “I would encourage everybody to do it. I would actually even encourage Cal to be a role model, put fewer people at polling locations and maybe be a little less traditional because these are untraditional times.”
Cunningham has held a consistent polling edge in their Senate race, which could determine which party controls the chamber in January.
Staff writer Will Doran contributed to this story.
For more North Carolina government and politics news, listen to the Domecast politics podcast from The News & Observer and the NC Insider. You can find it on Megaphone, Apple Podcasts, iHeartRadio, Stitcher or wherever you get your podcasts.
This story was originally published September 24, 2020 at 10:09 PM with the headline "Tillis says he has ‘grave concerns’ about voting by mail in NC after board settlement."
