Democratic Gov. Josh Stein vetoed two bills Monday: one that would shorten the primary election early voting period, and another that would allow certain trial judges to be suspended without pay if under investigation for misconduct.
Lawmakers won’t return to Raleigh until November, after the election. However, House Speaker Destin Hall, R-Caldwell, vowed to override any vetoes left when they come back. Whether they can do so will depend on the votes of a few swing Democrats and unaffiliated lawmakers.
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Stein had 10 days after lawmakers sent him House Bill 377 and House Bill 958 to decide whether to sign them into law, veto them or allow them to become law without his signature. While he waited until the final day to act, his vetoes were expected.
Governor vetoes court changes bill
Monday afternoon, Stein conducted his first ceremony of the day to veto HB377.
The bill contains several minor technical and clarifying changes to court procedures, but also one particularly controversial provision. Under current law, when a judge is accused of misconduct that hinders justice or hurts the court’s reputation, the North Carolina Judicial Standards Commission conducts an investigation.
If five members of the 14-person commission agree, they can recommend a public reprimand, censure, suspension or removal of the judge under investigation.
A public reprimand means that a judge broke the judicial code of conduct but the misconduct was “minor.” A censure is a degree more severe; it requires a judge to stand before the North Carolina Supreme Court to receive punishment, and means that the judge intentionally did something that hindered justice or hurt the court’s reputation. Suspension requires a judge to step down from the bench for a period of time, while removal immediately disqualifies that person from being a judge.
The bill would allow the North Carolina Supreme Court chief justice to suspend trial judges without pay during investigation if the commission determines that there would be “immediate and irreparable injury, loss or damage” to the public or the administration of justice if the judge stayed in office.
It would also remove the requirement for the state Supreme Court to base public reprimand, censure or removal decisions upon a written recommendation by the commission. Instead, a majority of the North Carolina Supreme Court could make their own decisions.
In his veto message, Stein alluded to concerns that the law would allow the state Supreme Court’s Republican majority and chief justice, specifically, to politicize this power.
“North Carolina voters elect the vast majority of our judges in our state, and removing judges from their posts should first and foremost be determined by the people,” he wrote.
Stein continued, framing the bill as part of a broader trend where Republican state lawmakers erode the judiciary’s independence.
“For 13 years, the General Assembly has repeatedly played politics with the judiciary, including taking all four of the nonpartisan State Bar’s appointments to the Judicial Standards Commission for itself,” he wrote.
After the House passed the bill in early August, Hall told reporters he understood the fear about politicized decisions, to an extent. But he thinks the bill includes a fairly high level of alleged misconduct before a judge can be suspended without pay.
“You think about things like a judge who was charged with a crime or whatever salacious issue happened,” Hall said.
“I don't think that is something like a judge making a wrong decision in a case necessarily. And those folks, I think most people think if a judge got in that kind of trouble, they shouldn't continue to be paid.”
Republicans should have the numbers to override Stein’s veto, since Rep. Carla Cunningham, UNA-Mecklenburg, voted with them.
Stein vetoes one of two election bills
Last week, Stein signed House Bill 834 into law, which would extend certain ballot counting and curing deadlines, clarify rules around early voting equipment and dead voters and allow people to challenge State Board of Election decisions outside of Wake County Superior Court.
This week, he vetoed the more controversial half of this session’s election policy agenda.
House Bill 958 would shorten the primary early voting period by a week, from 17 to 10 days. It would leave the general election early voting period as is. The bill allows people to challenge early voted ballots up to three days after Election Day, while the current deadline is the close of the polls.
The bill would also require the state auditor to conduct a post-election audit in randomly selected counties to identify any problems, inefficiencies or vulnerabilities in their process. Any findings would not impact election results.
It would require the Division of Motor Vehicles to share Social Security numbers with the State Board of Elections for voter registration and voter roll maintenance purposes on a monthly basis, and set up a process for removing noncitizens and dead voters from the voter rolls if identified by the Systemic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) system.
During his second veto ceremony, late Monday afternoon, Stein highlighted the popularity of early voting. He said about 200,000 North Carolinians voted in the first week of the primary early voting period this year.
“Your leaders should respect your vote, not restrict it,” he said.
Overall, 701,000 North Carolinians voted early in the 2026 primary, according to State Board data. County board directors have said the second week of early voting is the least popular, while the first few days and last few days of the 17-day period are busiest.
Stein said this year’s election bill is the latest in a “years-long effort by Republicans in the General Assembly of partisan attacks on our elections and on your vote.”
He cited the state’s voter ID law, former Supreme Court candidate Jefferson Griffin’s failed attempt to throw out tens of thousands of ballots, lawmakers’ decision to transfer election appointment power from the governor to the state auditor and past rulings by the state Supreme Court’s Republican majority that “gave the legislature a blank check to gerrymander districts.”
Stein ended with a call to voters to call their representatives and ask them to not override his veto.
After the veto ceremony, Rep. Hugh Blackwell, R-Burke, said in a public statement that the bill contains “practical election reforms” to increase confidence in elections.
“Gov. Stein's veto of this legislation puts politics ahead of common sense and the peace of mind voters should have when they cast their ballots,” he wrote.
House Republicans again vowed to override the governor’s veto in November. It’s unclear whether they will be able to, since Democrats stuck together on the original vote, Cunningham voted with Democrats and Rep. Nasif Majeed, UNA-Mecklenburg, was not present for the vote.
This article first appeared on Carolina Public Press and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.