In the months leading up to the 2024 presidential election, it felt nearly impossible to walk through Durham without an eager volunteer offering to help complete a voter registration form. However, a bill recently introduced in the state legislature would make such an offer illegal.
Earlier this month, a bill was filed in the North Carolina General Assembly that, if passed, would prohibit voter registration drives from using real registration forms. Instead, organizers could hand out only sample forms and volunteers at voter registration drives could merely instruct voters, not actually register them. The bill has passed its first reading in the House, but still must be approved by the House and Senate in order to become law.
The bill is drawing criticism from groups such as You Can Vote, a nonpartisan organization which trains volunteers and groups to register voters, hosts voter registration events, and aims to increase voter turnout in North Carolina.
“It would criminalize our work,” Kate Fellman, the group’s executive director and founder said in an interview with The 9th Street Journal. “And it would criminalize the work of so many passionate people.”
You Can Vote has trained 7,000 people and about 1,000 community partners on how to register voters over the past 10 years, Fellman said.
“If this becomes illegal,” Fellman said on registering voters, “which is just kind of shocking, it would have a chilling effect on voter participation in North Carolina.”
Violation of the bill would be considered a Class 2 misdemeanor, which could result in up to 60 days of jail time or a maximum fine of $1,000.
The bill is sponsored by six Republican representatives. One of the sponsors, Harry Warren, a House Republican from District 76 — a region near Charlotte that includes the city of Salisbury — defended the bill in a statement emailed to The 9th Street Journal Friday.
“No matter how one reads the bill,” Warren began, “the bill does not, in fact, suppress, prohibit or discourage voter registration drives.”
Warren said that the bill intends to “establish a uniform registration drive procedure” that protects the private information of voters and reduces the risk of identity theft.
Regarding Warren’s privacy argument, Fellman said the bill is a “solution for a problem that doesn’t exist.”
“If he would take a look at the State Board of Elections website and rules, there is extensive administrative as well as legislative rules regarding the handling of voter registration forms,” Fellman said.
Many measures already regulate voter registration drives, she said. For instance, it is illegal to alter the information on a voter registration form.
The new bill aligns with a national movement to set stricter standards around voter registration. For example, in Florida amendments passed in 2023 applied new rules around third-party voter registration, such as requiring that any person collecting or handling applications is a U.S. citizen. The Florida Senate Bill also shortened the time in which the third-party groups must turn in applications, levying fines of up to $2,500 for late applications.
Groups like You Can Vote, on the other hand, want voting to be less complicated. In an open letter on the bill, Fellman argues in favor of expanding online voter registration, making voter registration “opt-out” instead of “opt-in,” and allowing for same-day registration on Election Day.
Confusion around voting permeated this past election season in Durham. The 9th Street Journal reported on the hundreds of college students who, in October, were confused by new ID requirements. Also, more than 60,000 legal North Carolina voters’ ballots are currently being challenged in an ongoing dispute over the results of a state Supreme Court race.
If the bill is approved, the effects for young voters will be especially stark, Fellman said.
“On college campuses, this is going to look like huge, long, confusing lines during early voting.” Fellman said.
“There’s been so much innovation when it comes to student voter registration in North Carolina…And this would halt all of that work.”
Above: Volunteers register voters at Lincoln Community Health Center ahead of the November 2024 election. Photo by Kulsoom Rizavi — The 9th Street Journal
Lily Kempczinski
