联邦法官周三裁定，北卡罗来纳州严格的新邮寄选票政策将在中期选举中继续实施，维持了一项最后时刻的规则修改，这可能使州官员在11月更容易使数千张选票失效。
A federal judge ruled Wednesday that North Carolina’s rigid new mail-in ballot policies will remain in place for the midterms, upholding a last-minute rule change that could make it easier for state officials to invalidate thousands of votes in November.
美国地区法官托马斯·施罗德（Thomas Schroeder），乔治·W·布什任命的法官，表示此时推翻这些政策已经太晚了，这些政策是该州由共和党主导的选举委员会在选民于9月初收到选票前几个小时通过的。
U.S. District Judge Thomas Schroeder, a George W. Bush appointee, said that it was already too late to overturn the policies, which the state’s Republican-led board of elections passed hours before voters received their ballots in early September.
施罗德在裁决书中写道：“两项被质疑的条款都明确印在缺席选票材料上 — — 选民必须亲自签名，并将选票放入由县选举委员会提供的密封信封中 — — 这并不构成负担，更谈不上过度负担。”
“Neither of the two Challenged Provisions, which are clearly stated on the absentee ballot materials — that the voter sign his or her own name and place their ballot in a sealed envelope provided by the county board of election — is burdensome, much less unduly so,” Schroeder wrote.
法官在裁决中表示，原告 — — 一个民权组织联盟 — — 拖延太久才申请禁令，他们是在官员开始计算缺席选票的前一天提出的请求。施罗德在上周的听证会上说：“我们正处于选举季之中。”
The judge said in his ruling that the plaintiffs — a coalition of civil rights groups — waited too long to move for an injunction, filing the request the day before officials began counting absentee ballots. “We’re in the midst of election season,” Schroeder said at a hearing last week.
该裁决维持了全国最严格的邮寄选票程序之一，适用于北卡罗来纳州选民，他们是本轮全国首批收到选票的选民。施罗德的裁决也正值全国范围内限制或质疑邮寄投票的努力在11月3日之前加剧之时。
The decision upholds some of the strictest vote-by-mail procedures in the country on North Carolina voters, who were the first in the country this cycle to receive their ballots. Schroeder’s ruling also comes as national efforts to curb or question mail-in voting intensify before Nov. 3.
新指南使得州政府因技术性问题而拒绝已完成选票变得更容易。这些规则要求县官员在内信封未完全密封或选民的签名与回邮信封上申请编号上的姓名明显不匹配时“作废”邮寄选票 — — 即使选民使用昵称、娘家姓或首字母缩写。
The new guidelines make it easier for the state to reject completed ballots over technicalities. The rules direct county officials to “spoil” mail-in ballots when the inner envelope is not sealed perfectly or when a voter’s signature does clearly match the name of an application number on the return envelope — even if the voter uses a nickname, maiden name or initials.
虽然选举官员通常会发放替换选票，但原告指出，选民在选举日临近时才发现错误，通常没有足够时间提交新选票。
While election officials typically issue replacement ballots, the plaintiffs argued that voters whose errors are discovered close to Election Day rarely have enough time to submit a new one.
在最近的一次听证会上，原告律师雅各布·谢利表示，大多数选民在县官员宣称选票作废后，根本不会重新填写选票。
At a recent hearing, the plaintiff’s attorney Jacob Shelly said that most voters simply do not recast ballots after county officials declare them spoiled.
根据法院记录，截至10月8日，已有超过12.3万名选民提交了缺席选票申请；截至10月14日的听证会，已有31,582份缺席选票申请被提交。缺席投票主要被海外军人、老年人和残疾选民使用。谢利认为，新指令缺乏明确标准，可能导致各县之间出现不一致的处理方式。
More than 123,000 voters had already submitted requests for absentee ballots as of Oct. 8, and 31,582 had been requested by the Oct. 14 hearing, according to court records. Absentee voting is largely utilized by overseas military service members and elderly and disabled voters. Shelly argued the new instructions lack clear standards and could produce inconsistent treatment across county lines.
原告方辩称：“该委员会新任的共和党多数派仓促实施了临时性的缺席选票限制，这必将剥夺北卡罗来纳州众多选民的投票权。”动议补充道：“除非被禁止，否则这些规则将在11月的选举中使数千名合格选民的选票被宣布无效。”
“The Board’s new Republican majority rushed to implement eleventh-hour absentee ballot restrictions that will inevitably disenfranchise scores of North Carolina voters,” the plaintiffs argued. “They will invalidate thousands of qualified voters’ ballots in the November election unless enjoined,” the motion added.
根据施罗德周一的裁决，这些规则至少将持续到中期选举期间仍然有效。
Those rules will remain law at least through the midterms, per Schroeder’s Monday ruling.
在裁决中，法官对谢利的论点持轻视态度，并提出了投票规则的替代方案。
In the order, the judge makes light of Shelly’s arguments to provide an alternative to the voting rules.
他写道：“原告提出的补救措施取消了任何对签名的核实，允许选民在认证书上签署任何人的名字，甚至可以是‘米老鼠’。”
“Plaintiffs’ proposed remedy eliminates any verification of the signature, permitting a voter to sign anyone’s name to the certification, even ‘Mickey Mouse,’” he wrote.
北卡罗来纳州选举委员会在2025年5月，随着州共和党审计师戴夫·博利克获得任命权后，转变为3比2的共和党多数。尽管州法律在一周前已将这些变更搁置，但该委员会仍批准了这些改动。民主党州长乔什·斯坦称此举为“对法律的公然规避”。该委员会关于这些变更的表述，重复了唐纳德·特朗普总统的论调——他曾无证据地声称邮寄投票不可靠且充斥着选民欺诈。最近，美国最高法院阻止了美国邮政服务实施总统推动的新规则，以在中期选举前限制邮寄选票。
North Carolina’s election board shifted to a 3–2 Republican majority in May 2025 after the state’s Republican auditor, Dave Boliek, gained appointment authority. The board approved the changes despite a state law putting them on hold a week prior, which Democratic Gov. Josh Stein called a “blatant circumvention of the law.”The board’s messaging around the changes reflected talking points repeated by President Donald Trump, who has claimed without evidence that mail-in voting is unreliable and rife with voter fraud. The Supreme Court recently blocked the U.S. Postal Service from implementing new rules pushed by the president to restrict mail-in ballots ahead of the midterms.
北卡罗来纳州近年来推出了日益严格的投票规则。该州于2023年通过了选民身份证法，要求选民若计划通过邮寄方式投票，必须在两名见证人在场的情况下填写选票，并附上身份证件的照片复印件。该州的现场提前投票于上周四开始。
North Carolina has rolled out increasingly rigid voting rules in recent years. The state passed voter ID laws in 2023, and requiring voters to fill out their ballots in the presence of two witnesses and attach a photo copy of their ID if they intend to vote by mail. In-person early voting in the state kicked off last Thursday.