RALEIGH, N.C. (WNCN) – The state Senate gave initial approval to a bill Tuesday with significant changes to the state’s elections, as Democrats accused Republicans of a “blatant power grab” when it comes to local elections.

The bill has a variety of provisions that also affect mail-in voting and the use of artificial intelligence in political ads.

The passed its second reading on 26-18 party-line vote. It’ll require an additional vote before it goes to the House.  

The legislation aims to address the use of generative AI to deceive or mislead voters by requiring disclosure of the use of that technology in political advertisements. The proliferation of “deepfakes” and deceptive videos is a chief concern to state election officials.

Karen Brinson Bell, executive director of the NC State Board of Elections, recently said she worries about someone using her voice to create false messaging about the date of the election or other key information.

“I don’t know that there’s any state law that can 100 percent address that, but we need to try. We need to try to figure out a way to keep this kind of deceptive information from affecting our elections,” said Ann Webb, policy director of Common Cause North Carolina

The disclosure would be required when an ad is created entirely or in part with generative AI and: depicts a real person doing something that didn’t actually happen; was created to injure a candidate or deceive voters regarding a ballot issue; or provides false or misleading information to a voter.

Webb said she thinks the provision also should apply to digital ads.

Failing to comply would be considered a misdemeanor. That part of the law would go into effect July 1. However, Sen. Warren Daniel (R-Burke) said conversations are still underway with Republicans in the House, so the General Assembly may not take final action on the legislation until next year.  

Republicans also want to move forward with requiring the state conduct signature matching of mail-in ballots to try to verify people are who they say they are.

They previously authorized a 10-county pilot study, which still is not done. NC State Board of Elections spokesman Pat Gannon said Tuesday the agency has contracted with BizTech Solutions to work with the counties on the pilot.

The technology aims to match someone’s signature on their absentee ballot envelope with the signature on file with the state.

Sen. Daniel (R-Burke) said even though the results of that pilot are still not available, he still wants to move forward with implementation. It would not take effect until 2025, meaning the first use would occur in lower-turnout local elections that year.

“Rather than kind of wait on the bureaucratic churn of that process, we’re going to go ahead and authorize that to be done in 2025 and beyond,” he said. “Here we are this long in the future waiting on the data from the Board of Elections. Probably most of us thought this would be implemented for this election.”

North Carolina already requires people to either have two witnesses attest that someone is indeed the person who filled out a mail-in ballot or a notary public.

Sen. Dan Blue (D-Wake) questioned the need for the additional verification. He asked, “And you’re letting a machine that’s unproven basically say that that notary lied?”

Democrats objected to another part of the bill that would give the General Assembly greater ability to determine how county and city leaders are elected.

“It is one of the more blatant power grabs that we’ve seen,” said Sen. Julie Mayfield (D-Buncombe), adding that she thinks Republicans are likely to target heavily Democratic communities to potentially redraw local districts.

Sen. Daniel said Democrats aren’t being consistent in their arguments for proportional representation.

The bill now goes to the House. Senate leaders say they don’t plan to hold any more voting sessions after this week regardless of whether Republicans can reach a compromise on issues like changes to the state budget.

BJ’s Wholesale Club is expanding in New Jersey and North Carolina.

BJ’s Wholesale Club is expanding in the east with new stores in the works in New Jersey and North Carolina.

Slated to open in early 2025, the warehouse club will open its 25th club in New Jersey’s Hanover Township. Its 10th North Carolina store will be located in Southern Pines.

“We are excited to deliver the unbeatable value our membership offers to even more families in New Jersey and North Carolina,” said Bill Werner, executive vice president of Strategy and Development at BJ’s Wholesale Club. “As we continue to expand our footprint along the East Coast and beyond, we look forward to helping more families save up to 25 percent off grocery store prices every day.”

In early June, the Cherokee tribal council voted to allow recreational sales at the tribe’s new medical marijuana dispensary in the North Carolina mountains, the first and only place people can legally buy cannabis in the state. Up until that vote, customers needed a medical cannabis card from the tribe’s Cannabis Control Board. “Starting as soon as August, that will no longer be the case,” The Charlotte Observer said. Despite pushback from North Carolina authorities, this latest vote shows the tribe’s determination to exercise Indigenous sovereignty.

‘A real sovereign flex’

The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians opened its cannabis superstore, the Great Smoky Cannabis Company, on April 20th in a renovated bingo hall in the Great Smoky Mountains. A holiday for cannabis enthusiasts, 4/20 is typically the biggest sales day of the year for many cannabis retailers. The store debuted months after the tribe voted to allow the adult use of cannabis on its 57,000-acre territory, known as the Qualla Boundary, and on other lands. 

North Carolina remains one of nine states in the U.S. that still prohibits medical cannabis, and possession of marijuana could lead to jail time under state law. By going against state registration, the band is “exercising its right to set its own rules,” said Al Jazeera. “We’re not asking permission from the state; we’re telling them,” Forrest Parker, the general manager of Qualla Enterprises LLC, the tribal-run company that oversees the cannabis business. 

The tribe is one of 574 federally recognized tribes in the U.S., “each with inherent sovereignty,” Al Jazeera said. In other words, they have the right to self-govern.” While tribal lands still fall under federal jurisdiction, they are not subject to state authorities. This raises questions about how far tribal sovereignty can go and “whose authority should prevail on Indigenous land.” 

“It’s unique — a real sovereign flex,” John Oceguera, a cannabis lobbyist and former Nevada legislator from the Walker River Paiute tribe, said of the superstore.  

Pushback from state officials

Despite the claims if tribal sovereignty, the opening of a cannabis store has been met with resistance by state officials. In March, two lawmakers wrote a letter to a slew of federal agencies and departments petitioning them for help, said the Cannabis Business Times. Sens. Thom Tillis and Ted Budd, both North Carolina Republicans, addressed the letter to leaders in the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, Department of Justice, Department of the Interior, Financial Crimes Enforcement Network and various state agencies. The pair heard “directly from North Carolinians” who had concerns about the new dispensary, the senators said in their letter. With the country facing an “unprecedented drug crisis that is harming our communities,” it was imperative that they get answers on how the federal and state governments planned to “uphold current federal and state laws.” 

The letter was a separate act from Rep. Chuck Edwards’ (R-N.C.) introduction of the Stop Pot Act last September, citing the band’s plans to legalize marijuana on tribal land. If passed, the bill could ban states and tribes that permit the use of recreational marijuana from receiving certain federal funds.”The laws of any government should not infringe on the overall laws of our nation, and federal funds should not be awarded to jurisdictions that willfully ignore federal law,” Edwards said.

Experts say the senators have little ground to stand on to force the dispensary to close. Instead, any action taken by federal and state law enforcement will likely focus on “sussing out any potential violations of federal gaming and cannabis regulations,” Al Jazeera said. In the meantime, six tribes from Wisconsin issued a statement of support for the North Carolina tribe in response to the letter from Senators Tillis and Budd. The Eastern Band also held an inter-tribal gathering at the Qualla Boundary earlier this month to show solidarity. The tribe’s act has “gotten the attention of tribes like in Idaho where they thought they wouldn’t have a chance,” said Mary Jane Oatman, leader of the Indigenous Cannabis Industry Association, a national advocacy group. “It offers a model for an organized pathway.”