GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF NORTH CAROLINA

1993 SESSION

 

 

CHAPTER 236

SENATE BILL 684

 

AN ACT TO PROVIDE THAT THE SIMULATED ELECTION "KIDS VOTING" PROJECT MAY TAKE PLACE AT THE POLLING PLACE AND IS NOT CONSIDERED ELECTIONEERING.

 

The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:

 

Section 1.  G.S. 163-147 reads as rewritten:

"§ 163-147.  No loitering or electioneering at voting place.

(a)       No person or group of persons shall, while the polls are open at the voting place on the day of the primary or election, loiter about, congregate, distribute campaign material, or do any electioneering within the voting place, or within 50 feet in any direction of the entrance or entrances to the building in which the voting place is located.  Notwithstanding the above provision, if the voting place is located in a large building, the registrar and judges of the precinct may designate the entrance to the voting place within said building and none of the above activity shall be permitted within 50 feet of said entrance or entrances of said voting place.  This section shall not, however, prohibit any candidate for nomination or election from visiting such voting place in person, provided he does not enter the voting enclosure except to cast his vote as a registered voter in said precinct.  The county boards of elections and precinct registrars shall have full authority to enforce the provisions of this section.

(b)       This section does not prohibit establishment of or approval by the county board of elections of a simulated election within the voting place or voting enclosure for persons ineligible to vote because of their age, but the prohibitions of this section as to activities within the voting place or within 50 feet apply to that simulated election.  The State Board of Elections shall adopt rules to ensure that the simulated election is not disruptive of the regular process of voting."

Sec. 2.  G.S. 163-153 reads as rewritten:

"§ 163-153.  Access to voting enclosure.

In all counties, only the following persons shall be allowed within the voting enclosure while the polls are open to voting:

(1)       Officers of election, that is, members of the State Board of Elections, members of the county board of elections, supervisors of elections, and the precinct registrar, precinct judges of election, and assistants appointed for the precinct under the provisions of G.S. 163-42.

(2)       Voters in the act of voting.

(3)       A near relative of a voter, but only while assisting the voter as authorized in G.S. 163-152.

(4)       Any voter of the precinct called upon to assist another voter, but only while assisting him as authorized in G.S. 163-152.

(5)       Municipal policemen assigned by the municipal authorities to keep the peace at a voting place located within the municipality, but only when requested to come within the voting enclosure by the registrar and judges for the purpose of preventing disorder; at the request of the registrar and judges, they shall withdraw from the voting enclosure and remain at least 10 feet from its entrance.

(6)       Any voter of the precinct while entering and explaining a challenge, and any voter of the county who has challenged a voter in that precinct if the challenge is heard at the polls under G.S. 163-87 and 163-88, while entering and explaining a challenge.

(7)       Observers appointed under the provisions of G.S. 163-45.

(8)       Persons working at, supervising, or voting in a simulated election for persons ineligible to vote because of their age."

Sec. 3.  This act is effective upon ratification.

In the General Assembly read three times and ratified this the 29th day of June, 1993.

 

 

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Dennis A. Wicker

President of the Senate

 

 

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Daniel Blue, Jr.

Speaker of the House of Representatives