North Carolina § 120-10 - 8. Referral to committee.

§ 120-10. 8. Referral to committee.

Referral. - The clerk shall refer the notice, answer, petition, reply, depositions, and affidavits to the committee, which documents shall constitute part of the record in the contest. The committee shall hear the contest and conduct such investigation as has been directed by resolution of its house. Procedure. - The committee shall set a schedule for taking depositions and receiving affidavits. The committee may consider the contestant's and contestee's recommendations for the procedural schedule. The committee may hold hearings and may compel the attendance of witnesses and the production of documents in its inquiry in accordance with Article 5A of this Chapter. The committee may accept the filing of briefs. The committee may order the recount of the ballots in the election and may seek and obtain the assistance of the State Board of Elections in the interpretation and counting of ballots. Compel Discovery. - No witness in a contest shall be excused from discovering whether the witness voted in the election that is the subject of the contest or the witness's qualification to vote, except as to the witness's conviction for any offense which would disqualify the witness from voting. If the witness was not a qualified voter, the witness shall be compelled to discover for whom the witness voted; but any witness making such discovery shall not be subject to criminal or penal prosecution for having voted in the election. Report. - The committee shall report its findings as to the law and the facts and make recommendations to the house for its action. History (2005-3, s. 2; 2017-6, s. 3; 2018-146, ss. 3.1(a), (b), 6.1.) Re-recodification; Technical and Conforming Changes. - Session Laws 2017-6, s. 3, provides, in part: "The Revisor of Statutes shall recodify Chapter 138A of the General Statutes, Chapter 120C of the General Statutes, as well as Chapter 163 of the General Statutes, as amended by this act, into a new Chapter 163A of the General Statutes to be entitled 'Elections and Ethics Enforcement Act,' as enacted by Section 4 of this act. The Revisor may also recodify into the new Chapter 163A of the General Statutes other existing statutory laws relating to elections and ethics enforcement that are located elsewhere in the General Statutes as the Revisor deems appropriate." The Revisor was further authorized to make technical and conforming changes to catchlines, internal citations, and other references throughout the General Statutes. Pursuant to this authority, the Revisor substituted "Bipartisan State Board of Elections and Ethics Enforcement" for "State Board of Elections" in subsection (b). Session Laws 2018-146, ss. 3.1(a), (b) and 6.1, repealed Session Laws 2017-6, s. 3, and authorized the Revisor of Statutes to re-recodify Chapter 163A into Chapters 163, 138A, and 120C and to revert the changes made by the Revisor pursuant to Session Laws 2017-6, s. 3. Pursuant to this authority, the Revisor of Statutes reverted the change to the reference in subsection (b).