North Carolina Republicans passed major election bill SB 747 last month that dealt with absentee ballots and early voting, only to have it vetoed by lame duck Governor Roy Cooper.

But as we’ve explained in the past, Republicans have supermajorities in the legislature. Which means they don’t need Cooper’s approval for this bill or anything really. And they intend to override Cooper’s veto and make this bill law.

So what does this new election bill do? For starters, it sets a new deadline in which absentee ballots can be received in order to have them counted. Both in-person and absentee ballots must be received by 7:30 p.m. on election day. Absentee ballots received after that deadline will no longer be counted. Democrats act as though this is a cardinal sin, but voters have 60 days to submit absentee ballots. Importantly, this change will clearly give voters more confidence in the outcomes of elections.

SB 747 also requires photo id and proof of residence for same-day voter registration during early voting. This takes away a potential voter fraud loophole and ensures only legitimate voters cast ballots and they only do it once.

What I like is that the bill also deals with the voter rolls. Using the clerk of superior court, the bill creates a new process to eliminate non-U.S. citizens from voting records. According to Senator Eddie Settle, “It requires the clerk of superior court to notify the North Carolina State Board of Elections of individuals disqualified from jury duty because they are not U.S. citizens.”

In addition to this, the bill gets rid of private donations for elections and sets rules on how county election officials must deal with election observers.

Of course this bill will be challenged in the courts by Democrats, but hopefully it will move quickly enough for Republicans to prevail before the general elections next year. I will note that Republicans have a 5-2 majority North Carolina Supreme Court, so I think the outlook for this bill looks.