North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper made two important changes to voter laws on Wednesday, vetoing Senate Bill 250 to remove foreign citizens from the rolls and signing Senate Bill 638 to restore Saturday early voting.

Senate Bill 250 was intended to codify the common law requirement that jurors be US citizens and to share with the State Board of Elections the names of any people who are not citizens so they could be purged from the voter rolls. The governor refused to sign this bill to law despite believing that it is important that only US citizens vote because “blocking legitimate voters from casting a ballot is a risk we cannot take when the law already prevents non-citizens from voting and has legitimate mechanisms to remove them from the rolls.” He believes that the laws that are already in place will protect the sanctity of the vote and this bill was too much of a risk.

On the other hand, he signed Senate Bill 638 to law. This bill was created to restore the last Saturday of early voting. This will allow residents of North Carolina to have one more day to vote early. He signed this to law because the Saturday before an election is “one of the most popular and convenient days to vote.” According to Cooper, the restoration Saturday before an election voting will allow residents a greater chance to have their voices heard.