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LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A federal judge on Wednesday ruled that absentee ballots in the presidential battleground state of North Carolina must have a witness signature, a boost for Republican groups seeking to enforce stricter rules on mail-in voting. U.S. District Judge William Osteen in Greensboro issued an injunction essentially barring voters from being able to “fix” an absentee ballot they had already sent in if it lacked a third-party signature attesting that the voter, and not somebody else, signed the ballot. The judge was reversing a previous directive by state officials that had allowed voters to remedy the lack...

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A federal judge on Wednesday ruled that absentee ballots in the presidential battleground state of North Carolina must have a witness signature, a boost for Republican groups seeking to enforce stricter rules on mail-in voting. U.S. District Judge William Osteen in Greensboro issued an injunction essentially barring voters from being able to “fix” an absentee ballot they had already sent in if it lacked a third-party signature attesting that the voter, and not somebody else, signed the ballot. The judge was reversing a previous directive by state officials that had allowed voters to remedy the lack...

Raleigh, N.C. – A federal judge granted a temporary restraining order Saturday against North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein’s secretive absentee ballot scheme struck with Gov. Roy Cooper’s Board of Elections and his former campaign attorney, in a case in which state House Speaker Tim Moore (R-Cleveland) is the lead plaintiff. In a ruling siding with voters and state lawmakers while transferring their case to other litigation, U.S. District Court Judge James Dever said the plaintiffs’ motion for a temporary restraining order is “in the public interest.” “The NCSBOE inequitably and materially upset the electoral status quo in the middle...

A federal judge struck down a controversial law in North Carolina on Tuesday that banned abortions after the 20th week of pregnancy. U.S. District Judge William Osteen declared the ban unconstitutional in response to a 2016 lawsuit filed by several abortion rights organizations. Osteen cited other successful lawsuits around the country that have taken down bans on abortions that were based on weeks of pregnancy or gestational events. His decision will allow women in the state to obtain an abortion at any time prior to the viability of a fetus, which Osteen said would need to be determined on a...