by Christopher Cooper
A new election bill (H958) is making the rounds in the North Carolina General Assembly. Well, it’s kind of new. It’s actually an old bill (originally introduced in 2025) that has been revived and revised through what’s known as a Proposed Committee Substitute (PCS).1
There’s a lot in it and the details get confusing, but it is not true that all of it is about “voter suppression.” It’s also not true that it’s all non-controversial. Like most bills of this length, it is full of ideas—about 40 total policy changes. Some of these changes expand voter access, some restrict voter access, some change institutional powers, and some are so benign as to not require comment.
If you like being in the weeds, I encourage you to read the whole thing.2 For those with other things to do, however, I list ten of the highlights3 below and then expand a bit on three provisions of the bill—one which changes the rules around party switching for candidates, one which changes what county election board members can (and cannot say), and one which would ban ranked choice voting.
