Statement on Veto of Election Day Integrity Act

Raleigh, N.C. — Sen. Paul Newton (R-Cabarrus) released the following statement regarding Gov. Roy Cooper’s veto of Senate Bill 326, “Election Day Integrity Act”:

“Election Day should be the election deadline because it boosts confidence in elections to have results as close to the end of voting as possible. Election Day is the election deadline in plenty of Democrat-run states, yet Gov. Cooper and Democrats keep peddling this bizarre theory that the policy is an attempt at voter suppression. Will the press finally ask Gov. Cooper or Democratic legislators whether they believe Democrats in states with an identical policy are vote suppressors, or will they continue carrying water for the Democratic Party?”

Senate Bill 326 would make Election Day the election deadline, consistent with the majority of states, including President Joe Biden’s home state of Delaware. Current law allows absentee ballots to be received by the Board of Elections up to three days after Election Day. Senate Bill 326 would require absentee ballots to be received by Election Day, not three days later.

Election Day is the election deadline in Democratic-controlled states like Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, and others. Democrats have tried to argue that aligning North Carolina with these states is an act of voter suppression, though they’ve failed to answer whether Democrats who run states with identical policies are also vote suppressors.

Recent polling shows startling percentages of voters across all ideologies question whether the 2022 election will be “free and fair.”