Rulemaking

General Overview

Under N.C.G.S. § 163-22, the State Board of Elections has general supervision over the primaries and elections in North Carolina. It also may make rules regarding elections and campaign finance provided they do not contradict the law. When rules are proposed, a public comment period and a public hearing about the rule takes place.

The Rules Review Commission reviews rules that the State Board adopts for compliance with the requirements in Chapter 150B. For more about the Rules Review Commission, including a list of date of their upcoming meetings, visit NC Office of Administrative Hearings.

To be added to the list of interested parties for rule-making conducted by the State Board of Elections:

Email: legal@ncsbe.gov
Mail: PO Box 27255 Raleigh NC 27611-7255

Rules in Progress

Voting Systems Escrow Access

The State Board is proposing two new administrative rules governing the process by which a person, who is authorized by N.C.G.S. § 163-165.7, may gain access to, review, and examine information that voting system vendors place in escrow as a condition of State certification for their voting systems. Such escrowed information includes proprietary and highly sensitive information for certified voting systems, including the source code for voting machines and election management systems and their software.

These rules are designed to ensure that statutorily authorized individuals may review this information without risking the disclosure of proprietary information belonging to vendors or the disclosure of features of voting systems that could be exploited by malicious actors to compromise the integrity of the State’s elections.

The text of the proposed rules may be found here:

Authorized Access to Escrow Materials Proposed Rule 08 NCAC 04 .0308 (PDF)

Nondisclosure Agreement for Review of Escrowed Materials Proposed Rule 08 NCAC 04 .0309 (PDF)

Methods for Public Comment

Public comment may be made through any of the following methods:

Online: Rulemaking Public Comment Portal
Email: rulemaking.sboe@ncsbe.gov
Mail: Attn: Rulemaking Coordinator, 6400 Mail Service Center, Raleigh, NC 27603-1362

Comment period ends: May 31, 2022

A remote public hearing was held on April 27, 2022, at 10 a.m. Download the remote public hearing video (MP4).

Procedure for Subjecting a Proposed Rule to Legislative Review

If an objection is not resolved prior to the adoption of the rule, a person may also submit written objections to the Rules Review Commission after the adoption of the Rule. If the Rules Review Commission receives written and signed objections after the adoption of the Rule in accordance with N.C.G.S. § 150B-21.3(b2) from 10 or more persons clearly requesting review by the legislature and the Rules Review Commission approves the rule, the rule will become effective as provided in N.C.G.S. § 150B-21.3(b1). The Commission will receive written objections until 5 p.m. on the day following the day the Commission approves the rule. The Commission will receive those objections by mail, delivery service, hand delivery, or facsimile transmission. If you have any further questions concerning the submission of objections to the Commission, please call a Commission staff attorney at (984) 236-1850.