A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT to advance the date for reporting mailed absentee and one‑stop votes by precinct from 2006 to 2004 for those counties capable of doing so.
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
SECTION 1.  G.S. 163‑132.5G reads as rewritten:
"§ 163‑132.5G.  Voting data maintained by precinct.
To the extent that it can do so without compromising the secrecy of an individual's ballot, each county board of elections shall maintain voting data by precinct so that precinct returns for each item on the ballot shall include the votes cast by residents of the precinct who voted by absentee ballot, both mail and one‑stop. The county board shall not be required to report absentee voting data by precinct until 60 days after the election. The State Board of Elections shall adopt rules for the enforcement of this section with the goal that all voting data shall be reported by precinct by the 2006 election. Those rules shall provide for exemptions where the expense of compliance would place a financial hardship on a county. Those rules shall provide for compliance by 2004 for counties the State Board determines are capable of complying by that year."
SECTION 2.  This act is effective when it becomes law.