The Foundation for Government Accountability (FGA) praised members of the North Carolina General Assembly for their historic veto override votes on critical election integrity reforms. The Legislature passed Senate Bill 747 in mid-August and presented it to Governor Roy Cooper on August 18. Governor Cooper vetoed the bill on August 24. Today, the Senate overrode the governor’s veto by a vote of 30-19 and the House by a vote of 72-44.
The bill includes measures to ban private “Zuckerbucks” funding in election administration, secure rights for election observers, tighten non-citizen voting requirements, enhance voter rolls checks, strengthen the investigation of election crimes, and standardize ballot curing procedures.
“Governor Roy Cooper stood in the way of popular, commonsense election integrity reforms, and today the General Assembly rendered him little more than a speed bump on the road to more transparent, more trustworthy elections in the Tar Heel State,” said Joe Horvath, state government affairs director at the Foundation for Government Accountability. “Thanks to the leadership of Sen. Paul Newton, Sen. Ralph Hise, Sen. Warren Daniel, Rep. Jason Saine, Rep. Destin Hall, and Rep. Grey Mills, Senate and House members exerted their override authority to secure the free, fair, and honest elections North Carolinians deserve.”
“Today, the General Assembly made ‘easy to vote, hard to cheat’ a reality in North Carolina,” added Horvath.
The new law is set to take effect on January 1, 2024.