North Carolina Mails Midterm Ballots Amid Trump Mail Voting Fight
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What happened
North Carolina began mailing absentee ballots for the November midterm elections on Friday, becoming the first state to widely distribute them under a state law requiring ballots to go out 60 days before Election Day. The mailing coincides with federal litigation over a March executive order by President Donald Trump that would require states to submit voter lists to the U.S. Postal Service and impose new envelope and barcode standards on mail ballots. A federal judge has blocked key parts of that plan; on Thursday the Trump administration asked the U.S. Supreme Court to let the rules proceed. North Carolina election officials said they would mail ballots as scheduled. Separately, the North Carolina State Board of Elections approved new guidelines on counting mail ballots, including signature-related disqualification standards, hours before the ballots were sent.
BLINDSPOT.
Only left-leaning outlets are covering this story
— the other side's media is silent.
Omitted — what each side leaves out
Unpacked
Right-leaning outlets had not covered this as of publication, so their readers miss that North Carolina started mailing midterm ballots on Friday amid a still-unresolved fight over Trump's order limiting mail voting. Left-leaning coverage reports election officials are proceeding on schedule and say the state can administer a secure election even if new limits later go forward. ABC News adds that the Republican-majority board's director called it "business as usual."
ABC News leads with a legal battle that has already confused voters about whether they can still vote by mail. The Guardian leads with the Friday drop coming hours after the administration asked the Supreme Court to revive its restrictions.
If the Court later allows new barcode and envelope rules, do North Carolina ballots already in the mail still count?
Bottom line
ABC News reported North Carolina mailing midterm ballots Friday while withholding voter lists from the Postal Service during the court fight, a sequence right-leaning outlets have not reported.
The receipts — 6 facts one side's coverage lacks
- North Carolina began mailing midterm absentee ballots on Friday, the first state to do so
- The state opted against submitting its voter information to the Postal Service while legal proceedings are pending
- Nearly 150,000 California voters had mail-in ballots rejected in the June primary, mostly because they were postmarked too late
- Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson gave challengers until Tuesday to respond to the administration's emergency request
- A Postal Service official said the screening system would be offered to states on a voluntary basis sometime next week
- A whistleblower told Congress the Postal Service is rushing an untested portal that could lead to millions of mail ballots being rejected
The Left View
Left-leaning outlets present North Carolina’s mailing as the start of nationwide midterm mail voting amid a legal fight over Trump’s efforts to restrict the practice. They report that Trump has criticized mail voting and blamed it for his 2020 loss, that his March executive order and related Postal Service rules have been blocked and appealed, and that election officials and Democratic state attorneys general warn of voter confusion, late-cycle changes, and possible ballot rejections. Coverage cites a whistleblower claim that a Postal Service screening portal is untested, higher late-postmark rejection figures in California, Wisconsin, and Washington, and assurances from North Carolina officials that mail voting remains available. Outlets also note the State Board’s same-day guideline change on signature standards for counting mail ballots.
Our Take (balanced)
The story is substantive: it involves named officials, a public executive order, court filings and rulings, a statutory mailing deadline, and on-the-record comments. It is established that North Carolina began mailing ballots on the scheduled Friday, that the March executive order exists and is in active litigation, that the administration sought Supreme Court relief on Thursday, and that the State Board voted on new counting guidelines the same day. Claims that the order would imminently disrupt elections, that a USPS portal would cause mass rejections, and that postmark-processing changes are disenfranchising voters remain alleged or incompletely documented in the reporting provided. No right-leaning outlet has reported this. Watch for the Supreme Court’s action on the stay request, whether any Postal Service screening system is activated, the text of North Carolina’s new signature rules, and official rejection rates as ballots are returned.
7 sources
- Midterm mail ballots start to go to voters as litigation creates uncertainty
- Live updates: NC set to send out ballots amid mail voting fight; August posts strong jobs numbers
- North Carolina Mailing Ballots Friday as Legal Battle Rages
- North Carolina becomes first state to send out mail-in ballots for US midterms
- North Carolina Set to Mail The Fall’s First Ballots As Trump Tries to Restrict Them
- NC elections officials alter mail ballot rules just before they’re mailed out
- Trump wants the Postal Service to radically overhaul mail voting. But ballots are already going out.
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