US District Judge Thomas Schroeder issued an opinion on Sunday finding unconstitutional and blocking a new North Carolina provision designed to tighten restrictions on same-day voter registration.

The decision pertains to Senate Bill (SB) 747, a collection of election provisions that became law on October 10, 2023, when the state legislature overrode a veto from North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper. Among other restrictions, SB 747 contains provisions banning the use of private funds for election administration, shortening the timeframe within which mail-in ballots may be returned, extending the timeframe within which mail-in ballots may be challenged, instituting a pilot program for signature verification on mail-in ballots and permitting poll watchers to roam freely throughout polling locations.

Notably, SB 747 also restructured the process for same-day registrants. Under the new provision, a voter seeking same-day registration would receive a verification card in the mail confirming their address. However, if the card is returned as undeliverable, the provision instructs election officials not to register the voter and remove their ballot from being counted. As Schroeder pointed out in his opinion, this instruction stands even when the card is undeliverable “through no fault of the voter. The provision does not require that election officials inform the voter that their ballot has been invalidated or provide recourse for voters whose verification card is returned as undeliverable.

Ultimately, Schroeder found that the provision is likely to infringe on voters’ 14th Amendment due process rights. He wrote:

[The provision] will impose a substantial burden on same-day registrants who cast a ballot because, under the law’s express terms, they will face a non-trivial risk of being erroneously disenfranchised by failing address verification due to governmental error, rather than factors related to their eligibility to vote, without any notice and opportunity to be heard.

Following Sunday’s opinion, North Carolina House Speaker Tom Moore and House Election Law and Campaign Finance Reform Chairman Representative Grey Mills released a statement noting that “the vast majority of SB 747 is still in effect …” Further, they deemed that “the court order requires relatively minor changes to one small part of the bill” but asserted that they are “working … to ensure that the entire bill is in effect before the primary and general elections this year.”

SB 747 is not North Carolina’s first election legislation to be contested. In 2021, a state appellate court permanently enjoined a strict voter identification law, finding that it discriminated against Black voters.