A federal judge has refused to block North Carolina's new mail-in ballot rules from taking effect, leaving stricter envelope and signature requirements fully in place as county election offices process tens of thousands of absentee ballots ahead of the midterms. U.S. District Judge Thomas Schroeder issued a 72-page ruling on Monday denying a preliminary injunction sought by a coalition of advocacy groups that challenged the last-minute changes.
Schroeder, a George W. Bush appointee, heard arguments in the case in Winston-Salem less than a week before issuing his decision, according to the News & Observer. In denying the injunction, the judge leaned on the U.S. Supreme Court's Purcell principle, a doctrine that discourages courts from altering election rules shortly before or during active voting, as reported by Carolina Journal.
The rules at the center of the fight disqualify a mail-in ballot if its inner envelope is unsealed and require election officials to verify that a voter's signature matches their name. Schroeder wrote that neither provision, which he said are clearly stated on the absentee ballot materials, “is burdensome, much less unduly so.”
How the Rules Took Effect
The State Board of Elections issued the challenged provisions in its 2026 Numbered Memo in a 3-2 party-line vote on September 4, just hours before county offices began mailing ballots to voters statewide, per WHQR. Before that vote, North Carolina guidelines had allowed ballots inside unsealed inner return envelopes to count as valid, provided the outer mailing envelope was properly sealed and witnessed, according to Courthouse News.
The shift reflects a broader change in who controls the state's election machinery. Control of the State Board of Elections flipped from a Democratic to a 3-2 Republican majority in mid-2025 after lawmakers transferred board appointment authority from the governor to the state auditor, the news outlet reports. Previous Democratic-led majorities had resisted similar mail envelope restrictions, per the same account.
Under the board's September directives, voters whose ballots have unsealed inner envelopes are notified and may submit another absentee ballot or vote in person, according to the Daily Tar Heel.
Who Sued and Why
The lawsuit was filed on September 22 by attorneys with the Elias Law Group on behalf of advocacy groups including North Carolina Asian Americans Together, Down Home North Carolina, and the North Carolina Alliance for Retired Americans, Courthouse News reported. Plaintiffs' lawyers said in Winston-Salem that they moved as fast as possible to file the case, which came 18 days after the rules took effect, according to the News & Observer.
Plaintiffs argued in court filings that disqualifying ballots over unsealed inner envelopes violates the Materiality Provision of the federal Civil Rights Act of 1964, which bars denying the right to vote over non-material paperwork errors. The Republican National Committee and the North Carolina Republican Party were allowed to intervene as co-defendants on October 9, after Schroeder granted their motion, Carolina Journal reported. The groups argued their legal interests in defending the restrictions were distinct from those of state election administrators.
Thousands of Ballots Already in the System
The scale of what's at stake is considerable. State election filings submitted in federal court showed that more than 123,000 North Carolina voters had requested absentee ballots by October 8, with over 30,000 already returned and processed before the ruling, according to Democracy Docket.
Schroeder said reversing the rules at this stage could create confusion, writing that some voters whose absentee ballots were spoiled under current practice likely voted again by absentee ballot or in person during early voting, the News & Observer reported. A spoiled ballot results in the voter being notified and issued another mail-in ballot, or offered the option to vote in person.
The real-world impact is already visible in Wake County, where election officials rejected 40 ballots for unsealed inner envelopes at their latest meeting, representing 2.5% of total mail-in ballots there, according to election observer Gerry Cohen, as reported by the News & Observer.
A Longer Fight Over NC Election Law
The dispute traces back to Senate Bill 747, which the General Assembly enacted in 2023 after Republican lawmakers overrode a gubernatorial veto. That law eliminated the state's three-day post-election grace period for postmarked ballots and mandated signature verification pilot testing, according to PolitiFact.
Hoodline previously covered the SB 747 appeal fight, when Schroeder upheld the law's same-day voter registration verification provisions and voting rights groups took that ruling to the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals. With this latest decision, the stricter mail ballot rules remain fully operational as county boards continue processing incoming midterm absentee ballots, while the underlying constitutional and Civil Rights Act claims remain unresolved.
