SB 313 — Safeguard Fair Elections Act.

FILED SENATE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF NORTH CAROLINA MarSESSION 14, 2023 S.B.S 1 SENATE BILL 313 Short Title:

313 SESSION 2023 PRINCIPAL CLERK S D SENATE BILL DRS55032-LUa-32B Short Title:

Rules and Operations of the Senate March 15, 2023 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED AN ACT TO PROVIDE INCREASED PROTECTIONS FOR VOTERS AND ELECTIONS OFFICIALS AGAINST VARIOUS FORMS OF INTERFERENCE WITH AN ELECTION AND TO APPROPRIATE FUNDS FOR CERTAIN PURPOSES.

*DRS55032-LUa-32B**S313-v-1* General Assembly Of North Carolina Session 2023 (3) Engages in mass, indiscriminate, and groundless challenging of voters solely for the purpose of preventing voters from voting or to delay the process of voting or the lawful and orderly administration of an election.

(1) Enclose the employees' pay in pay envelopes upon which or in which there is written or printed the name of anyanycandidate candidate or any political mottoes, devices, or arguments containing threats, express or implied, intended or calculated to influence the political opinions or actions of the employees.

For purposes of this section, a person shall be found to have intimidated or coerced another person if the person knew or reasonablyreasonablyshould should have known that his or her actions would produce that effect.

(a) In addition to any other fine or penalty imposed by this Article, the court may order any person convicted of violating this Article to pay a restitution fine, the amount of which shall bedetermined bybythe the courtand becommensurate with theseriousness oftheoffense.

Page 2 DRS55032-LUa-32BSenate Bill 313-First Edition General Assembly Of North Carolina Session 2023 (a) It shall be the duty of the State Board of Elections and the district attorneys to investigate anyanyviolations violations of this Article, and the State Board and district attorneys are authorized and empowered to subpoena and compel the attendance of any person before them for the purpose of making such investigation.

DRS55032-LUa-32BSenate Bill 313-First Edition Page 3 General Assembly Of North Carolina Session 2023 (5) Efforts to subvert vote counting and the recognition of election winners are, by definition, destructive to our system of democracy and the rule of law.

– Anindividual legallyauthorizedorpermittedlegallyauthorizedorpermittedto to executelaws or make decisions on behalf of any government, including any branch, subdivision, or agency of the State or any county, city, district, or other local government.

The report shall Page 4 DRS55032-LUa-32BSenate Bill 313-First Edition General Assembly Of North Carolina Session 2023 be submitted to the Joint Legislative Elections Oversight Committee and the Joint Legislative Oversight Committee on General Government within 10 business days of the date the audit is completed." SECTION 4.2.

(a) The chair of each political party in the county shall have the right to designate two observers to attend each voting place at each primaryprimaryand and election and such observers may, at the option of the designating party chair, be relieved during the day of the primary or election after serving no less than four hours and provided the list required by this section to be filed by each chair contains the names of all persons authorized to represent such chair's political party.

Thelist submittedbysubmittedbythe the chairof thepolitical partypartymaybe maybe amended between theone-stop period under G.S.

In any election in which an unaffiliated candidateis namedonnamedontheballot, theballot, the candidateorthecandidate's campaign manager shall have the right to appoint two observers for each voting place consistent with the provisions specified herein.

… (c) An observer shall sign a sworn oath that the observer shall do no electioneering at the voting place, and shall in no manner impede the voting process or interfere or communicate with or observe any voter in casting a ballot, but, subject to these restrictions, the chief judge and judges of elections shall permit the observer to make such observation and take such observe and DRS55032-LUa-32BSenate Bill 313-First Edition Page 5 General Assembly Of North Carolina Session 2023 take notes as the observer may desire.

(a) Notwithstanding any provision of law to the contrary, a precinct official may file written notice with the State Board of Elections requesting that the precinct official and the precinct official's immediate family, if applicable, be placed on a list prohibiting disclosure of personallypersonallyidentifiable identifiable information in public records when the precinct official deems the official or the official's immediate family is at risk of intimidation, threat, or coercion in response to official election duties.

–TheNotwithstandingsubsection (j) of this section, the decision of the General AssemblyAssemblyin indeterminingthe determining the contest of the election pursuant to this section may not be reviewed by the General Court of Justice.

SECURITY TRAINING FUNDS Page 6 DRS55032-LUa-32BSenate Bill 313-First Edition General Assembly Of North Carolina Session 2023 SECTION 8.1.

There is appropriated from the General Fund to the State Board of Elections the sum of two hundred fifty thousand dollars ($250,000) in recurring funds for each year of the 2023-2025 fiscal biennium to provide biennial security training for election officials and theirimmediatefamilytheirimmediatefamilymembers,as members,as definedin G.S.

SecuritySecuritytrainingshall training shall include, at a minimum, each of the following:

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