In North Carolina, the state board of elections voted unanimously in September to extend the deadline to receive mail-in ballots to Nov. 12 in response to concerns from the North Carolina Alliance for Retired Americans. Trump won North Carolina in 2016, and along with Florida, it is seen as crucial to his reelection efforts. In its ruling, the majority said the courts must defer to state election officials to regulate their own voting procedures. The court noted that North Carolina election officials regularly extend the state’s ballot receipt deadlines in response to hurricanes, as they did in each of the past two years. The dissenting judges, nominated by Republican presidents, said election officials were “changing the rules in the middle of an election” and undermining the authority of elected lawmakers.

Source: Washington Post October 21, 2020 15:57 UTC