Impacted Voters, League of Women Voters of North Carolina File Lawsuit to Defend North Carolina Voters from Post-Election Disenfranchisement

Raleigh, NC — Today, the League of Women Voters of North Carolina and four individual voters — on behalf of other similar voters — filed a complaint and emergency motion for a temporary restraining order in the US District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina. The case — Conley v. Hirsch — seeks to prevent the state from disenfranchising lawful voters based on new rules imposed long after the November 2024 election concluded. The plaintiffs are represented by Protect Democracy, the Harvard Election Law Clinic, and Altshuler Berzon LLP. 

The lawsuit challenges the North Carolina State Board of Elections’ (NCSBE’s) planned implementation of new and retroactive rules for military and overseas voters created by the North Carolina Court of Appeals in response to ongoing litigation driven by the losing candidate in a closely contested state Supreme Court race. That litigation, spearheaded by Republican Judge Jefferson Griffin and endorsed by a majority of justices on the court he seeks to join, targets military and overseas voters — including active-duty servicemembers and their families, from four disproportionately Democratic-leaning and urban counties, while leaving ballots from 96 of the state’s 100 counties untouched.

Plaintiffs argue this post-election rule change violates the constitutional rights of lawful North Carolina voters by:

• Retroactively changing the rules of the election and applying them to disenfranchise voters who fully complied with the law in place when they voted;
• Undermining the basic principle that elections should be decided by voters, not overturned months later in court by changing the rules.
• Presumptively tossing out the ballots of military and overseas voters from cherry-picked counties more likely to support Griffin’s opponent – unless those voters jump through newly created hoops – while leaving ballots from thousands of identically situated voters in the final count.  

“At the end of the day, this lawsuit is about protecting the voices of North Carolinians,” said Jennifer Rubin, president of the League of Women Voters of North Carolina. “North Carolina voters followed the rules when they voted in November, and it is blatantly unfair to force them to jump through hoops to prove their eligibility months after the election because a candidate is dissatisfied with the outcome."

“There is nothing more un-American than trying to overturn the will of voters in a free election,” said Celina Stewart, chief executive officer of the League of Women Voters of the United States. “Jefferson Griffin’s attempt to do so sets an extremely dangerous precedent. For the sake of North Carolina voters – and for the sake of all voters across the country, particularly military and overseas voters, who may worry about retroactive efforts to cancel their votes – the League of Women Voters is proud to stand with voters to fight back.” 

"The North Carolina General Assembly’s Rules Commission, the North Carolina State Board of Elections, and County Boards of Elections across the state provided frequent and consistent guidance to military and overseas voters based on one set of rules before the election,” said Danielle Leonard, partner at Altshuler Berzon, “and now, some five months after the 2024 election and the counting and recounting of ballots under those rules, the State of North Carolina is creating new election rules and presumptively tossing out ballots under these brand new legal standards.”

"All of our clients followed the law, cast lawful ballots, and did everything the state asked of them to make their voices heard,” said Anne Harden Tindall, special counsel at Protect Democracy. “Now, months after the fact, the state is trying to throw out their votes based on brand new legal standards. That’s not just unfair, it’s unconstitutional.”

The complaint details how many plaintiffs, including North Carolina residents who are members of the League of Women Voters of North Carolina, received confirmation from elections officials before casting their votes about the rules for doing so. Yet under the state’s new posture, those same voters are being asked to take new, additional steps—or see their ballots tossed. By definition, military and overseas voters are harder for elections officials to reach, yet the State is prepared to disenfranchise active-duty military on the other side of the world if they cannot find them and get additional information from them within 30 days. That is just plain wrong, and the Constitution won’t allow it.

The lawsuit asks the Court to:

• Affirm that retroactive disenfranchisement violates the US Constitution;
• Block the NCSBE from applying post-election criteria to ballots already lawfully cast;
• Ensure that voters are not forced to clear new legal hurdles to have their ballots counted.

Read the complaint here and the motion for a temporary restraining order here.

###

The League of Women Voters is a nonpartisan, grassroots organization working to protect and expand voting rights and ensure everyone is represented in our democracy. We empower voters and defend democracy through advocacy, education, and litigation, at the local, state, and national levels.

The League of Women Voters of North Carolina, a nonpartisan political organization, works to encourage the active and informed participation of citizens in government and to increase understanding of major public policy issues.

Protect Democracy is a nonpartisan nonprofit organization dedicated to preventing American democracy from declining into a more authoritarian form of government.

Altshuler Berzon LLP is a law firm that focuses on providing legal representation in the service of economic justice and the public interest. The law firm represents clients in federal and state trial and appellate courts and before administrative agencies.