EAIElectoral Access Index

The statute codifies three core independence mechanisms: (1) fixed four-year terms with succession provisions, explicitly stated in statute; (2) balanced political composition—a mandatory limit that no more than three of five members can belong to the same party; and (3) multi-branch input through the nomination process, requiring the Governor to appoint from lists submitted by both major party chairs, constraining unilateral executive discretion. All three elements are enumerated in the statutory text and leave no gap for administrative discretion to override them.

“The Governor shall appoint the members of the State Board and likewise shall appoint their successors every four years at the expiration of each four-year term. Not more than three members of the State Board shall be members of the same political party. The Governor shall appoint the members from a list of nominees submitted to the Governor by the State party chair of each of the two political parties having the highest number of registered affiliates as reflected by the latest registration statistics published by the State Board. Each party chair shall submit a list of four nominees who are affiliated with that political party. No person may serve more than two consecutive four-year terms.”

No section in the FTS-surfaced candidates satisfies this criterion. Best signal: The criterion asks whether age and residency requirements are set in the CONSTITUTION, not statute. This section is part of the North Carolina General Statutes (Chapter 163), which is statutory law. Although the section clearly and statutorily enumerates age (18 years) and residency (30 days in state and precinct), it does not satisfy the criterion because the criterion specifically requires constitutional grounding. The statute alone does not meet this requirement.

The statute codifies the disqualification criterion (felony conviction) with notice and challenge procedures (30-day objection right, preliminary hearing under G.S. 163-85(c)(5)), satisfying the statutory procedural grounding and cure pathway. However, the section provides no explicit statutory restoration procedure—no mention of sentence completion, rights restoration timelines, or mechanisms to regain voting eligibility after disqualification period ends. This constitutes a partial satisfaction: disqualification is statutory with procedural safeguards, but restoration pathway is not enumerated in this section.

The statute requires educational programs and registration procedures once citizenship is restored, satisfying the codification of a restoration pathway. However, the section does not establish a statutory deadline for restoration itself, does not define 'restoration of citizenship' with precision, does not provide automatic restoration mechanisms, and does not specify consequences or review procedures if the educational program fails to reach an eligible person. The section addresses voter registration opportunity post-restoration but not the restoration procedure itself.

“The State Board of Elections, the Division of Prisons of the Department of Adult Correction, and the Administrative Office of the Courts shall jointly develop and implement educational programs and procedures for persons to apply to register to vote at the time they are restored to citizenship”

No section in the FTS-surfaced candidates satisfies this criterion. Best signal: Section 163-166.7A addresses voter education and information posting requirements, not the establishment or grounding of identification requirements themselves. It requires counties to post instructions on ID compliance for first-time voters and mail-in registrants, but does not set, define, or ground any ID requirement in statute. To evaluate whether ID requirements are statutorily grounded, one would need to examine other sections of N.C. Gen. Stat. Chapter 163 that actually impose or authorize ID requirements (e.g., sections on registration or poll procedures). This section merely directs communication about ID rules; it does not establish or ground them.

The statute enumerates specific student ID categories that the State Board *may* approve (UNC institutions, community colleges, eligible private institutions), but it delegates the actual approval decision to the State Board's discretion. The statute specifies what types of cards qualify for consideration but does not enumerate a closed list of acceptable ID forms for voting—it creates a process by which the Board approves cards on a biennial basis if criteria are met. This leaves discretion over which specific cards are acceptable in any given election cycle to administrative approval rather than statutory enumeration.

The statute clearly establishes a free, state-issued photo ID (voter photo identification card) available by statute to all registered voters without charge. The procedure is enumerated: issuance by county boards of elections, available upon request, with no fee. This satisfies the criterion for a free alternative ID.

“The county board of elections shall, in accordance with this section, issue without charge voter photo identification cards upon request to registered voters.”

This section provides a statutorily-defined cure procedure for voters not appearing on the rolls (which includes voters lacking ID verification): they may cast a provisional ballot upon executing a written affirmation. The procedure is enumerated in statute—not left to administrative discretion—and specifies the mechanism (provisional ballot + written affirmation) and the official responsible (election official at voting place). The statute also requires the county board to verify provisional ballots and establish an information system for voters to ascertain whether their ballot was counted and why, creating a defined review mechanism.

“An election official at the voting place shall notify the individual that the individual may cast a provisional official ballot in that election. The individual may cast a provisional official ballot at that voting place upon executing a written affirmation before an election official at the voting place, stating that the individual is a registered voter in the jurisdiction as provided in G.S. 163-82.1 in which the individual seeks to vote and is eligible to vote in that election.”

No matching sections in corpus.

The statute explicitly defines registration deadlines relative to election day in numerical terms (25 days before for mail with postmark; 20 days before for mail without clear postmark; 25 days before for in-person, fax, and scanned submission). These deadlines are set directly in statutory text, not delegated to regulation or administrative discretion, satisfying the criterion.

“In order to be valid for a primary or election, the form: If submitted by mail, must be postmarked at least 25 days before the primary or election, except that any mailed application on which the postmark is missing or unclear is validly submitted if received in the mail not later than 20 days before the primary or election, If submitted in person, by facsimile transmission, or by transmission of a scanned document, must be received by the county board of elections by a time established by that board, but no earlier than 5:00 P.M., on the twenty-fifth day before the primary or election”

The statute enumerates specific methods (federal postcard application, federal write-in ballot declaration, electronic transmission system) but then broadly permits 'any other approved method' and 'any other approved electronic registration application,' delegating enumeration of additional methods to the State Board of Elections rather than exhaustively specifying all permitted registration methods in the statute itself. This falls short of the procedural-clarity requirement that all available methods be enumerated directly in statute.

No section in the FTS-surfaced candidates satisfies this criterion. Best signal: This section addresses ballot counting procedures and standards, not voter registration or cure procedures for incomplete registrations. The statute contains no language regarding registration rejection, incomplete registration forms, or any cure mechanism for registration defects. It is outside the scope of the criterion entirely.

This section describes appellate review of challenge decisions but does not establish a voter's right to challenge a rejected or removed registration in the first instance. The statute presupposes that challenges exist (referencing G.S. 163-85) but does not codify the procedural right to challenge rejection or removal here. The appeal right is statutory and clear, but the underlying right to mount a challenge must be found elsewhere in the statute.

“A decision by a county board of elections on any challenge made under the provisions of this Article shall be appealable to the Superior Court of the county in which the offices of that board are located within 10 days.”

North Carolina General Statutes § 163-82.14 explicitly sets forth in statutory text the three primary criteria for voter removal: death (with mandatory reporting from Department of Health and Human Services and mandatory removal by county boards), conviction of felony (with detailed notice and objection procedures), and change of address (with systematic confirmation mailings and failure-to-respond protocols). The statute enumerates each ground for removal and prescribes the procedural steps counties must follow, rather than delegating to administrative regulation or discretion. The section also includes cure/appeal paths (e.g., 30-day objection period for felony convictions triggering a challenge hearing under G.S. 163-85(c)(5)). This satisfies the criterion at the highest ordinal level because the substantive criteria are grounded in statute with defined procedures.

The statute expressly requires 30 days' written notice before removal for felony convictions and a defined cure period: if the voter objects within 30 days, a formal challenge hearing is triggered rather than automatic removal. The notice-and-cure procedure is statutorily grounded, enumerated (30 days specified), and accompanied by an appeal path (challenge hearing under G.S. 163-85(c)(5)). The change-of-address provision similarly provides a postage-prepaid confirmation mailing with a deadline to respond before removal occurs.

The statute mandates that guidelines include 'protecting and securing the data,' but this delegates the actual security regime (encryption, access logs, breach notification protocols) to State Board discretion rather than codifying it in statute. The section provides no enumerated security standards, encryption requirements, breach notification timelines, or access-control specifications that would constitute a clear statutory procedure.

“Protecting and securing the data.”

No matching sections in corpus.

The statute explicitly establishes the right to assistance for voters with disabilities (physical disability, blindness, illiteracy) and enumerates both who may provide assistance and the categories of voters entitled to choose any person they wish (beyond family members). The procedure is set by statute with clear categories and rules, not left to administrative discretion. While the State Board of Elections shall promulgate rules, those rules are constrained by statutory guidelines governing conduct.

No section in the FTS-surfaced candidates satisfies this criterion. Best signal: This section criminalizes fraudulent imposition of ballots on illiterate voters, but it does not codify an affirmative procedure for providing assistance to voters who cannot read. It prohibits abuse rather than establishing how assistance should be rendered, who may provide it, how ballot secrecy is protected during the assistance process, or what steps an illiterate voter should take to request help. The statute addresses only the criminal penalty for misconduct, not the procedural framework for legitimate assistance.

No section in the FTS-surfaced candidates satisfies this criterion. Best signal: This section addresses buffer zones and election-related activity restrictions around voting places, not polling-place hours. It contains no provision setting, prescribing, or limiting the opening and closing times of polling places. The criterion asks whether hours are set by statute rather than administrative discretion; this section is silent on hours altogether and therefore does not satisfy the criterion.

This section codifies identification requirements for mail-in voters and establishes a provisional ballot cure mechanism when identification is not provided. However, it does not address critical procedural elements of the mail-in process itself: application procedures, application deadlines, ballot return methods, signature verification standards, or cure procedures for signature mismatches or ballot rejection. The section focuses narrowly on identification verification for first-time mail registrants, leaving the broader mail-in workflow to regulations or other statutory sections.

“An individual who has registered to vote by mail on or after January 1, 2003, and has not previously voted in an election that includes a ballot item for federal office in North Carolina, in order to cast a mail-in absentee vote, shall submit with the mailed-in absentee ballot one of the following: A copy of a current and valid photo identification. A copy of one of the following documents that shows the name and address of the voter: a current utility bill, bank statement, government check, paycheck, or other government document.”

The statute codifies absentee voting framework for second primaries in statutory language, establishing eligibility (voters eligible to vote on primary and second primary day), application procedures (written request with specific timing windows referenced to G.S. 163-230.1), and treatment (same procedures as first primary absentees except as specified). The framework is set by statute rather than left to administrative discretion, though it incorporates cross-references to other statutory provisions for detailed procedures.

“All procedures with respect to absentee ballots in a second primary shall be the same as with respect to absentee ballots in a first primary except as otherwise provided by this section.”

No section in the FTS-surfaced candidates satisfies this criterion. Best signal: This section addresses criminal history record checks for elections employees and does not address early voting periods or locations. The criterion asks whether early voting period and locations rules are set by statute; this section contains no enumeration of voting periods, locations, or procedures related to early voting access. It is entirely administrative in subject matter (personnel screening) and therefore does not satisfy the criterion.

No matching sections in corpus.

The statute establishes the right to provisional balloting in clear statutory language, specifies the conditions triggering that right (appearing eligible but not on the voter roll), prescribes the procedure for casting (written affirmation before an election official), requires county boards to verify ballots according to State Board guidelines, mandates publication of provisional ballot counts by a specific deadline, and requires provision of written information and an accessible system for voters to ascertain whether their ballot was counted and the reason if not. All core procedural elements—enumeration of the right, conditions, casting mechanism, verification framework, timeline, transparency, and voter notification—are codified in statute rather than left to administrative discretion.

“If an individual seeking to vote claims to be a registered voter in a jurisdiction as provided in G.S. 163-82.1 and though eligible to vote in the election does not appear on the official list of eligible registered voters in the voting place, that individual may cast a provisional official ballot as follows: An election official at the voting place shall notify the individual that the individual may cast a provisional official ballot in that election. The individual may cast a provisional official ballot at that voting place upon executing a written affirmation before an election official at the voting place, stating that the individual is a registered voter in the jurisdiction as provided in G.S. 163-82.1 in which the individual seeks to vote and is eligible to vote in that election.”