NORTH CAROLINA GENERAL ASSEMBLY
1981 SESSION

CHAPTER 656
SENATE BILL 612

AN ACT TO REQUIRE COUNTIES THAT PROVIDE VOTERS' LISTS FROM COMPUTERS TO MAKE DISCS OR TAPES AVAILABLE TO STATE POLITICAL PARTIES.

The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:

Section 1. G.S. 163‑66, as it appears in the 1980 Interim Supplement, is rewritten to read:
"§ 163‑66. Custody of registration records and pollbooks; access; obtaining copies. — In all counties the registration records, books, registration certificates, indexes, computer lists, discs, labels and tapes and other records of registration and voting shall be and remain in the possession of the county board of elections. The county board of elections shall keep all such records in a safe and secure place where they may not be tampered with, stolen or destroyed. If possible, the board shall keep them in a fireproof vault or file. The board may exercise supervision and control of these records through its properly designated officers and employees. It shall be the duty of the county board of elections, on application of any candidate, or the county chairman of any political party, or any other person, to furnish a list of the persons registered to vote in the county or in any precinct or precincts therein. No registrar shall furnish lists of registered voters or permit the registration records of his precinct to be copied. The county board of elections shall furnish such lists and upon request, it may furnish selective lists according to party affiliation, sex, race, date of registration, or any other reasonable category. In all instances, however, the county board of elections shall require persons to whom any list is furnished to make full reimbursement for the expense incurred in preparing it. Notwithstanding the above, however, the chairman of each political party in the county, as defined in G.S. 163‑96, shall be entitled biennially, upon written request, to one free list of all registered voters in his county showing the name, address, sex, political affiliation and precinct of each registered voter, provided, that in counties having voter records maintained on electronic data processing equipment, such lists shall not be furnished biennially but instead on the following schedule: once in each odd‑numbered year, once during the first six calendar months of each even‑numbered year, and once during the last six months of each even numbered year. In addition to the typed, mimeographed, xeroxed or computer print‑out lists required hereinabove, each county that provides voters' lists from computers shall, upon written request from the State Chairman of each political party, provide at least 120 days prior to each general election a computer disc or tape containing the name, address, sex, race, age, political affiliation and precinct of each registered voter and it shall be the responsibility of each State Chairman receiving such discs or tapes to provide them to candidates for election who are candidates of their respective political parties and who request the discs or tapes in writing. The free list to be furnished to the county chairman of each political party shall group the registered voters by precinct and shall be furnished as soon as practicable but no later than 30 days after said request."
Sec. 2. This act is effective upon ratification.
In the General Assembly read three times and ratified, this the 22nd day of June, 1981.