NC Gov Spreads Whopper About Absentee Ballot

People discuss often about the underhanded election machinations Democrats in other states – like California – get away with, but it occurs right here in North Carolina more often than you may suppose. It’s just that Democrats listed below are far more refined about it, in hopes you will not discover.

In equity, what they do is not always unlawful, but it is still slimy and questionable, and one thing that you recognize when you see it. This brings us to the latest instance, which comes from our current governor, Democrat Josh Stein.  But before we get to what he did, let me provide you with a tiny bit of background.

In-person early voting began right here on October 15. In a weird scene, Senate Democrat nominee Roy Cooper, our former governor, arrived at his polling place to a lot staged fanfare, oddly doing a mild jog along the trail in the aftermath of his legal crew, the Elias Law Group, sending a cease-and-desist letter to the North State Journal newspaper after they despatched his marketing campaign questions about the 69-year-old’s health and capability to serve a full six years if elected. The Elias Law Group, which was based by Democrat super-lawyer Marc Elias, threatened a lawsuit if they printed “such false and defamatory statements” associated to the questions about his health.

This is related for a number of causes, which can soon turn out to be clear.

On Tuesday night, Stein took to social media, where he proceeded to attempt and whip up a panic among North Carolina voters about mail-in voting. Here’s what he wrote (bolded emphasis added):

The State Board of Elections’ last-minute modifications to voting by mail are main to 1000’s more absentee ballots being rejected this election – at a rejection charge twice as high as in 2022. It’s infuriating. North Carolinians, please make a plan to vote this yr, in individual if attainable. And if you’re voting by mail, make sure you seal both envelopes on your poll. Don’t allow them to take away your vote.

Though Stein did not share in his tweet where that data got here from, WUNC revealed the source:

Stein was referencing an analysis from the nonprofit advocacy group Common Cause. Its analysis was printed Tuesday by Democracy Docket, a left-leaning legal group concerned in a lawsuit looking for to block the new mail-in poll processing tips.

Who based and closely promotes Democracy Docket? None other than Elias. Here’s what their reporter wrote about the supposed high quantity of absentee poll rejections in an “exclusive” report (bolded emphasis added) filed Tuesday, the same day Stein wrote his message:

Common Cause North Carolina, working with the Southern Coalition for Social Justice, compiled data from 27 of the state’s 100 counties, utilizing absentee review displays — on a regular basis voters and volunteer advocates —  as nicely as attorneys. 

The data reveals ballots are so far being rejected at a charge of around 3% in the wake of the new GOP-backed guidelines. 

Some of those rejections had been seemingly not down to the new guidelines — ballots could be rejected for quite a few causes. But the three% complete rejection charge is double the rejection charge your entire nation noticed in the 2022 election and greater than the state noticed 4 years in the past too, strongly suggesting that the new guidelines are having a major affect. 

So, Stein lied voters by claiming “a rejection rate twice as high as in 2022” for N.C., when what Democracy Docket, whose “reporting” is – as a normal rule – doubtful at best – steered was that the speed was “double the rejection rate the entire nation saw in the 2022 election.”  Now, Democracy Docket also alleged that the three % charge was “higher than the state saw four years ago too, strongly suggesting that the new rules are having a major impact” (even though a couple of sentences above it, they said the precise reverse, that “Some of those rejections were likely not down to the new rules”).

But what did they conveniently omit? What the N.C. charge of rejection was in 2022. The N.C. Board of Elections helpfully equipped the knowledge in response to an inquiry from WUNC:

Updated the story with new numbers from the State Board of Elections, which studies “a slight increase in spoiled ballot rates in 2026 (3.1%) compared to 2022 (2.6%) at this stage in each election” (not the doubling Stein referenced) #ncpol https://t.co/0zQGJxOmOe

— Colin Campbell (@RaleighReporter) October 21, 2026

Fake news, Marc. Bless your coronary heart. #ncpol #ncsen https://t.co/BJUmUO7fAh

— Sister Toldjah 💙 (@sistertoldjah) October 21, 2026

Wow, so we have gone from 2.6 % in 2022 to 3.1 % in 2026.  That’s hardly “double,” which Stein claimed, and suggests that the tightened guidelines on absentee ballots are so far having little to no affect on the rejection charge:

The main level of rivalry in the elections board’s new steering requires officers to reject mail-in ballots that aren’t sealed correctly — with seals on both the poll envelope and outer envelope — forcing the voter to start the method over again.

A federal court choose earlier this week declined to block the rules. “Neither of the two challenged provisions, which are clearly stated on the absentee ballot materials — that the voter sign his or her own name and place their ballot in a sealed envelope provided by the county board of election — is burdensome, much less unduly so,” U.S. District Court Judge Thomas Schroeder wrote. He is a Greensboro-based choose first appointed by President George W. Bush.

Why would Stein and Democracy Docket need to whip up a panic among the Democrat base based on deceptive/false data? For starters, despite early in-person voting getting off to a strong start for Democrats, Republicans are reportedly beginning to catch up. And the top-of-the-ticket race this yr is the Senate race between Stein’s buddy Cooper and former RNC Chairman Michael Whatley.

Secondly, if any race ends up being close and with a Republican being the winner, this offers Democrats wiggle room to declare a “rigged” election, one thing national Democrats have been alleging would occur for months now.

In short, we’re going to be seeing a lot more of these lies and half-truths from Democrats in the approaching days and weeks, so Republican leaders in this state better be paying consideration and ready to reply with a actuality verify.

Keep this in thoughts as nicely: Elias, Cooper, and Stein (who was state attorney normal when Cooper was governor) have a moderately storied and notoriously shady historical past with one another, the backstory of which anybody can read more about in this 2020 PinkState piece I wrote: NC Dems Collude With National Party Lawyer to Remove Crucial North Carolina Absentee Ballot Safeguards.  The shorter model is below:

Marc Elias represented Roy Cooper in the 2016 recount that gave Cooper the win by .2%.
Elias reps this AFL-CIO affiliate in a lawsuit against Cooper’s BoE (with a Democrat majority).
This group had the Dem AG as 2018 keynote speaker.
AG & BoE “settles” with Elias.
#NCpol

— Pete Kaliner (@PeteKaliner) September 27, 2020

You’ve gotta watch these guys like a hawk.

Editor’s Note: The 2026 Midterms will decide the destiny of President Trump’s America First agenda. Republicans must preserve control of both chambers of Congress.

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