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Federal judge blocks changes to North Carolina absentee ballot rules

The State Board of Elections said under the temporary restraining order, ballots with mistakes will not be corrected until the courts give further guidance.

GREENSBORO, N.C. — The back and forth over absentee voting rules in our state continues.

A federal judge blocked a ruling that gave voters more time to get their ballots in and made it easier to fix mistakes.

It comes after a Friday decision by a Wake County Superior Court judge which settled a lawsuit with three new rules.

Those rule changes extended the deadline to submit absentee ballots, allowed voters to correct mistakes on their ballot without starting a new one and allowed absentee ballots to be dropped off at early voting locations.

U.S. District Judge James Dever blocked those rules with a temporary restraining order Saturday.

The State Board of Elections said county boards can't take any action right now if a ballot has a problem.

A memo from elections leaders released Sunday said deficient envelopes are to be kept in a secure location. 

The decision came after North Carolina House Speaker Tim Moore and North Carolina Senate Leader Phil Berger sued over the changes.

"Both sides are fighting for an advantage in the courts as to which votes count," High Point University Political Science Professor Dr. Brandon Lenoir said, "Republicans are concerned that there's going to be voter fraud. Democrats are concerned that some voters are going to be disenfranchised."

The size of this issue is important to keep in mind.

State election officials said 97 percent of ballots have been returned without mistakes and will be counted. 

State Board of Elections spokesperson Patrick Gannon said 372,442 ballots had been returned as of Monday.

The temporary restraining order comes with less than a month left until Election Day as more voters than usual are expected to vote by mail.

"When we're in a pandemic you would hope that absentee voting would be an easy process, that way peoples' minds are set at ease and they're not exposed to the virus," said Lenoir.

State election leaders are waiting for more guidance from the courts on how to handle ballots with mistakes.

That guidance could come Wednesday when a federal judge in Greensboro could decide to extend, change or end the temporary restraining order.

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