The Markup: NC election board demands private voter data

We are tracking 1,765 bills prefiled or introduced this session across 50 states. Our analysis finds that 772 bills improve voter access or election administration, while 457 restrict voter access or election administration.

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Improving Voter Access or Election Administration

Arizona Supreme Court dismisses challenge to Election Procedures Manual. 

In a unanimous order, Arizona‘s top court rejected an attempt to invalidate the 2023 Election Procedures Manual. This decision cleared the way for Arizona to use the updated manual in upcoming elections. The manual includes provisions ensuring access to mail ballots for eligible voters, requiring notice before voters can be removed from the rolls, protecting voter signatures from public disclosure, and more. State officials are still reviewing a draft of the 2025 manual.

Federal court allows lawsuit challenging Indiana’s restrictive student ID law to proceed. 

A federal judge denied Indiana’s motion to dismiss a lawsuit challenging S.B. 10. This law removed public university student IDs from the list of acceptable forms of voter ID. The court found the plaintiffs’ allegations of potential constitutional violations plausible. The law remains in place pending an eventual final ruling. Read more about attempts to limit student voting access here.

Restricting Voter Access or Election Administration

Georgia’s election board recommends ending no-excuse mail voting. 

The Georgia State Election Board voted 3–2 to urge legislators to eliminate no-excuse absentee voting when the legislature reconvenes in January 2026. Adopted two decades ago, the policy allows any voter to cast a mail ballot without providing a reason. The state board also recommended tightening the deadlines for overseas voters to return their ballots. Georgia is one of 36 states that allows all voters to vote by mail. 

North Carolina’s board of elections demands private voter data. 

The North Carolina State Board of Elections sent a letter to the state’s Division of Motor Vehicles demanding the full Social Security numbers of registered voters. Advocates have warned that using full Social Security numbers, rather than the last four digits, creates privacy and identity theft risks. The board is moving forward with a plan requiring all voters to have an ID number associated with their registration record for their vote to be counted.

On Our Radar

Trump administration hires 2020 election deniers to lead election investigations. 

The Trump administration hired Kurt Olsen, a lawyer who helped advance false fraud claims after the 2020 presidential election, as a special government employee. The administration temporarily hired Olsen to investigate voting machine “issues” and other election-related questions. This hiring is part of a larger trend that includes the hiring of Heather Honey as the deputy assistant secretary for election integrity at the Department of Homeland Security. Experts have repeatedly debunked claims that the 2020 election was stolen or fraudulent.

Federal judge indicates support for challenge to Virginia’s felony disenfranchisement law. 

A federal district court judge suggested during a hearing that he may rule in favor of plaintiffs challenging the ban on voting by individuals with past felony convictions. The two disenfranchised citizens argue that the state’s law violates the federal Virginia Readmission Act of 1870. This law barred the state from expanding disenfranchisement after the Civil War. The court requested that the parties provide additional briefing before ruling. A favorable outcome for plaintiffs could end disenfranchisement for convictions that would not have been considered felonies in 1870, such as drug offenses. Virginia is one of only four states where voting rights are never automatically restored.

U.S. Department of Justice to send election observers to California and New Jersey. 

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced it would send observers to California and New Jersey to monitor those states’ elections next month. Officials in those states have reacted with skepticism to the announcement. California’s secretary of state released a statement that the DOJ “has not provided our office with any justification for the need to deploy federal monitors” in a “nonfederal special election.” The DOJ sent monitors to 28 states for the 2024 presidential election.

Lawsuit against Indiana alleges that new voting rules discriminate against naturalized citizens. 

A coalition of pro-voting groups has filed a federal lawsuit against the state of Indiana. The lawsuit challenges two recently enacted laws: H.B. 1264, which requires the state to cross-check voter rolls with the DMV, and H.B. 1680, which bars registration using temporary ID numbers without additional proof of citizenship. The lawsuit alleges that these laws unfairly target certain naturalized citizens by requiring them to provide documentation that other citizens do not.

Louisiana governor calls special session on elections. 

Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry issued a call to convene the state legislature for a special session “to legislate relative to the election code, election dates, election deadlines, and election plans.” Early prefiles have primarily focused on the timing of the 2026 primary election. However, the call is broad enough to cover any aspect of the state’s elections.

Trial held in case over a North Carolina same-day registration law. 

Arguments concluded in a lawsuit concerning the same-day registration provisions in North Carolina S.B. 747. The disputed provisions require election officials to reject a same-day registrant’s ballot if a single address confirmation mailer is returned as undeliverable.

Conservative Nebraska group announces push to get two initiatives on ballot. 

Advocates for All Nebraskans announced a push to gather signatures to get two initiatives on the 2026 ballot. One initiative would require the state’s electoral college votes to be awarded on a winner-take-all basis rather than allocated by congressional district. The other would require elections to be conducted on paper ballots and have hand-counted results. Research has shown that hand counting is less reliable, more expensive, and slower than using tabulators. No state currently handcounts ballots.