Matthew Sasser, NC Insider, 8/17/26
North Carolina Democrats on Monday pointed to the Legislature’s most recent effort to alter the election process as an attempt to hold onto entrenched Republican power and curtail voting access.
Gov. Josh Stein in his veto message of House Bill 958 said the legislation is a direct attack on voter access and undermines the confidence that the will of the voters will be respected.
Among the major modifications: reducing the number of early voting days in primaries and runoffs to 10 days from 17; extending the process for challenging early and absentee ballots to the third business day after the election instead of at the close of Election Day; and allowing the state board executive director to use federal databases to identify potentially ineligible voters.
Senate Minority Leader Sydney Batch said the Republican-controlled Legislature acts with “lightning speed” when it comes to protecting its political power.
“This is a party scared of its own voters,” she said.
HB 958 also permits the state auditor to conduct post-election audits of elections systems. Every county would have to be audited at least once every six years.
"Post-election audits are a commonsense, objective way to boost public confidence in our elections,” State Auditor Dave Boliek stated in a press release. “These examinations of election systems and controls are an additional layer of accountability that should be welcomed.”
Boliek said any claims from the governor that the administration of elections have been politicized is incorrect.
“Election access in North Carolina has expanded this year,” he said. “Voters had a greater number of early voting sites and more early voting hours for the March 2026 primary compared to the May 2022 primary election.”
Over the past four years, the General Assembly has altered election laws during each legislative session. In 2025, Republicans redrew their Congressional maps that are projected to result in a 11-3 advantage in representation.
State redistricting battles intensified after the Supreme Court eliminated a section of the Voting Rights Act in May. While many Southern states responded by redrawing their maps, House Minority Leader Robert Reives said North Carolina didn’t need to because they had already acted the year before.
“It would be nice to say … that this was brand new territory and it’s been unexplored,” Reives said today. “That’s what we’ve seen over the past 15 years … Republicans have controlled the General Assembly and their trend has been to go away from true representation.”
Former Rep. James Galliard, who is running against Sen. Lisa Barnes in State Senate District 11, said HB 958 weakens public trust.
“It just seems like it’s one [election bill] after another after another,” Rep. Marcia Morey, D-Durham, who has served in the House since 2017, told NC Insider/State Affairs.
A press release from House Republicans promised to override the governor’s veto.
"HB 958 continues practical election reforms so we all can have greater confidence that every lawful vote in North Carolina is counted fairly and accurately,” House Elections Law Chair Rep. Hugh Blackwell, R-Burke, said in a statement. “Gov. Stein's veto of this legislation puts politics ahead of common sense and the peace of mind voters should have when they cast their ballots."
First-term lawmaker Phil Rubin, D-Wake, who worked on HB 958 with its sponsor to help settle disagreements said he knew it would be an uphill battle when he learned about the changes in the 36-page election omnibus bill the night before it was set to appear in committee.
“You know either something shady or something incompetent is happening when a bill comes like that,” Rubin said. “Every bill [like that] is designed to keep them in power.”
Some initial provisions, such as restrictions on election officials to encourage voter turnout and a ban on paid signature gathering for political petitions, were taken out during the committee process due to Democratic opposition.
Rubin, a former federal prosecutor, has been on the periphery of election issues before. His wife previously served as the general counsel to the state board of elections.
“It’s different when you're on the inside,” he told NC Insider. “It was both disappointing to see a bill like this go through but I also learned a lot from working with Rep. Pricey Harrison. I was really proud of the changes that we were able to make.”
Rubin said he was particularly disappointed that the Senate decided to remove a due process mechanism for deceased voters that House Democrats had been successful advocates against in initial versions of the bill.
HB 958 passed along party lines. In order for it to pass the General Assembly, one Democratic House member is needed to flip or multiple absences would be necessary to force an advantage for Republicans.
In his veto message, Stein encouraged North Carolinians to call their legislators to ask them to uphold his veto.
“I really hope and think we can protect the veto on this bill. It is so bad and so egregious,” Rubin said. “If we can do our work, we can protect the veto all the way through the session. And then I think the Legislature is going to be a very different place.”
Earlier in the day, Stein also vetoed House Bill 377. It would have allowed the NC Supreme Court Chief Justice Paul Newby to suspend any trial court judge without pay, making North Carolina the only state with this move as an available option.
“If we gave Newby the ability to take anyone off the bench for any reason, that’s dangerous,” Morey, a former chief district court judge, said. “I think it has a chilling effect on some of their decision-making.”
On the elections, Morey said the yearly flood of changes from the Legislature is concerning because it adds a sense of uncertainty not just for lawmakers, but the voters.
“The confusion worries me more than anything,” she said. “To put confusion in the mix is one of the worst things that can happen.”
Railroad Spending
The N.C. Department of Transportation will receive $300 million from the federal government to close railroad crossings in Durham and Guilford counties and make other upgrades along the N.C. Railroad corridor. The grants are part of $5.3 billion in rail spending the U.S. Department of Transportation announced Friday.
It includes more than $2 billion to acquire new railcars and locomotives for Amtrak routes, including the state-subsidized Piedmont and Carolinian. At least some of those railcars could be made at a factory that Siemens Mobility opened last year in Lexington, North Carolina.
NCDOT will use the federal money to close three railroad crossings in Durham County at Wrenn and Glover roads and the eastern end of Ellis Road and to build bridges to carry Glover and Ellis over the tracks. NCDOT also plans to close six crossings and construct two new bridges in Greensboro and surrounding Guilford County.
“The projects we announced today will help make our nation’s rail network much safer because now state DOT’s across America will have the funds they need to eliminate dangerous grade crossings,” David Fink, head of the Federal Railroad Administration, said in a statement. “FRA also collaborated with Amtrak over a two-year period to determine how best to distribute these funds so passenger trains can run on time and freight isn’t delayed.”
The federal grant will also allow NCDOT to build a second set of tracks along sections of the N.C. Railroad corridor between Durham and Research Triangle Park and in downtown Cary to reduce delays. The state will also work with the N.C. Railroad and Norfolk Southern on new fencing and other strategies to try to keep people from crossing tracks on foot, said Jason Orthner, head of NCDOT’s Rail Division.
Nationwide, USDOT says the money announced Friday will close more than 30 crossings and upgrade more than 1,000 others. It says the Federal Railroad Administration aimed to close “high risk” crossings, those with three or more crashes or two or more fatal crashes in the last five years. More than 2,000 crashes and other incidents occur at railroad crossings nationwide each year, resulting in about 200 deaths, according to data collected by the agency.
The funding announced Friday was competitive. The Federal Railroad Administration says it received more than 100 applications requesting nearly $11.7 billion, more than twice what it was able to award.
NCDOT Laptops
The ceremony was something you don’t expect to see at the N.C. Department of Transportation headquarters: More than a dozen high school students receiving Hewlett-Packard laptops and the software and hot spots to make them work.
The students from Durham’s Southern School of Energy and Sustainability and McDowell High School in Marion completed a construction course in the spring and a two-week summer program that introduced them to careers in transportation construction.
The computers they received Thursday were a reward of sorts, among about 700 NCDOT will give to students and adults interested in a career in construction but who may not have the tools needed to pursue it.
“Access to technology is no longer a luxury,” Transportation Secretary Daniel Johnson told the students. “These laptops are an investment in people, an investment in workforce development and in small businesses and their North Carolina futures.”
About 16% of NCDOT jobs are vacant and about half of current employees are approaching retirement, said Rhonda Royster, the department’s workforce development manager. NCDOT has a wide range of programs to appeal to young people, from model bridge building competitions to “introduce a girl to engineering day,” all aimed at planting seeds.
The laptop program targets mostly rural and poorer communities. In addition to Durham and McDowell counties, students will receive computers in Cleveland, Halifax, Haywood and Nash counties.
NCDOT bought the 700 laptops with a $1.3 million federal grant from the American Rescue Plan economic stimulus bill passed by Congress during the COVID-19 pandemic.
I-77 Opposition
Matthews Town Attorney Daniel Peterson on Monday urged local governments to stand with Matthews, Charlotte and other communities in opposition to the proposed Interstate 77 toll lane project. The DOT has been urging communities to reverse an earlier decision and support the toll lanes. Meanwhile, the Republican-controlled General Assembly included a provision in the state budget requiring local governments that voted against the toll lanes to repay the state for money spent designing the project. Peterson said the wishes of local governments should be respected. The Charlotte Regional Transportation Planning Organization is scheduled to take another vote on the toll lanes in late September.