The North Carolina House is expected to take up two overrides of Governor Roy Cooper's vetoes today.
The Senate voted last night to override two elections-related bills. One, SB 757, would change judicial electoral districts in Mecklenburg and Wake Counties. In Mecklenburg, superior court judges would be elected from eight districts, instead of three. Electoral districts for district court judges would be identical to those.
Republican Senator Jeff Tarte of Cornelius co-sponsored the bill. He argued last night it doesn’t make sense for Mecklenburg County’s 21 district court judges to be elected countywide. He said the district court is represented by three to five times the population of a member running for superior court.
"That’s absolutely ridiculous," Tarte said.
Democratic Senator Jeff Jackson of Charlotte criticized Republican lawmakers for what he says was a rushed process.
"People are not going to trust this outcome, because the process could not have been worse," Jackson said.
The other veto the Senate voted to override last night involved another elections-related bill. SB 486 would move the final day of early voting from the Saturday before election day to Friday. Saturday has been popular with African-American voters, according to elections data. The bill also contains a "sore loser" provision preventing candidates who lose a primary from re-entering races by switching parties.