This database consolidates and tracks litigation concerning the effect of the pandemic on election law. The purpose of this tool is to provide an interactive list of relevant cases that can be searched by issue, court, status, and jurisdiction.
Case Details
North Carolina State Conference of the NAACP v. North Carolina State Board of Elections
Active
N.C. State Conference of the NAACP v. N.C. State Bd. of Elections, No. 20-CVS-05035 (N.C. Super. Ct., Wake Cnty.) |
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| Case Summary | Plaintiffs, North Carolina State Conference of NAACP branches and individual registered voters residing in counties using the ExpressVote machine, sued North Carolina State Board of Elections and Board of Elections of various North Carolina Counties to enjoin them from employing the ExpressVote to conduct any public election in North Carolina. Plaintiffs alleged violation of the North Carolina Constitution Article I, section 10 (the Free Elections Clause) because ExpressVote is subject to security threats, has been proven to malfunction in marking and tabulation of votes, does not permit insurance that votes are counted correctly, and creates risk to public health (as the screen and ExpressVote-related components are vectors of transmission of COVID-19 virus). Plaintiffs also alleged violation of Article I section 19 (the Equal Protection Clause) because only some North Carolina counties compel voting using the ExpressVote. | |
| Filed | 04/15/2020 | |
| State | North Carolina | |
| Type of Court | State | |
| Status | Active | |
| Last Updated | 09/01/2020 | |
| Issue Tag(s) | In-Person Voting COVID Concern (Lack of Safety Measures for In-Person Voting) | |
| Complaint(s) | 04/15/2020: Complaint filed. | |
| Dispositive Ruling(s) | 08/19/2020: Order/Ruling, Court denied the plaintiffs' request for preliminary injunction after considering arguments and pleadings regarding the ExpressVote ballot marking device that spits out the voters selection (made via key pad or screen) in the form of human readable text and a bar code. The bar code is then scanned to count the vote. The NC State Board of Elections certified the in person vote using this system, and plaintiff opposed certification. Plaintiff argues that the ExpressVote barcode violates the Free Elections Clause of NC because a voter can not verify that the selection contained in the barcode is accurate. The court denied the motion motion for prelminary injunction because the motion was filed months after the vote was certified and the granting the injuction would injure the 21 Defendant counties that used this system (that was approved by the EAC for federal elections) by requiring them to devote substantial resources to switch to another voting system. Both court found that both laches and the balance of harm favors the defendants. | |
