PUBLISHED

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT

No. 24-1095

RODNEY D. PIERCE; MOSES MATTHEWS,

Plaintiffs – Appellants,

v.

THE NORTH CAROLINA STATE BOARD OF ELECTIONS; ALAN HIRSCH, in his official capacity as Chair of the North Carolina State Board of Elections; JEFF CARMON, III, in his official capacity as Secretary of the North Carolina State Board of Elections; STACY "FOUR" EGGERS, IV, in his official capacity as a member of the North Carolina State Board of Elections; KEVIN LEWIS, in his official capacity as a member of the North Carolina State Board of Elections; SIOBHAN MILLEN, in her official capacity as a member of the North Carolina State Board of Elections; PHILLIP E. BERGER, in his official capacity as President Pro Tem of the North Carolina Senate; TIMOTHY K. MOORE, in his official capacity as Speaker of the North Carolina House of Representatives,

Defendants – Appellees.

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ROY A. COOPER, III; JOSHUA STEIN,

Amici Supporting Appellants.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina, at Greenville. James C. Dever III, District Judge. (4:23-cv-00193-D-RN)

Argued: February 15, 2024 Decided: March 28, 2024 USCA4 Appeal: 24-1095 Doc: 49 Filed: 03/28/2024 Pg: 2 of 97

Before WILKINSON, GREGORY, and RUSHING, Circuit Judges.

Affirmed by published opinion. Judge Rushing wrote the majority opinion, in which Judge Wilkinson joined. Judge Gregory wrote a dissenting opinion.

ARGUED: Elisabeth S. Theodore, ARNOLD & PORTER KAYE SCHOLER LLP, Washington, D.C., for Appellants. Phillip John Strach, NELSON MULLINS RILEY & SCARBOROUGH, LLP, Raleigh, North Carolina, for Appellees. ON BRIEF: Edwin M. Speas, Jr., POYNER SPRUILL LLP, Raleigh, North Carolina; R. Stanton Jones, Samuel I. Ferenc, ARNOLD & PORTER KAYE SCHOLER LLP, Washington, D.C., for Appellants. Thomas A. Farr, Alyssa M. Riggins, Cassie A. Holt, Alexandra M. Bradley, NELSON MULLINS RILEY & SCARBOROUGH LLP, Raleigh, North Carolina; Richard B. Raile, Katherine L. McKnight, Trevor M. Stanley, Benjamin D. Janacek, Washington, D.C., Patrick T. Lewis, Cleveland, Ohio, Rachel Palmer Hooper, Tyler G. Doyle, BAKER & HOSTETLER LLP, Houston, Texas, for Appellees. Joshua H. Stein, Attorney General, Ryan Y. Park, Solicitor General, James W. Doggett, Deputy Solicitor General, Lindsay Vance Smith, Deputy Solicitor General, South A. Moore, Deputy General Counsel, Mary Elizabeth D. Reed, Solicitor General Fellow, NORTH CAROLINA DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE, Raleigh, North Carolina, for Amici Curiae.

2 USCA4 Appeal: 24-1095 Doc: 49 Filed: 03/28/2024 Pg: 3 of 97

RUSHING, Circuit Judge:

North Carolinians are currently going to the polls to vote in primary elections for

their state senators, among many other public offices. 1 Each voter casts a ballot for a

candidate to represent their respective district among the State’s 50 Senate districts, as

recently reconfigured by the General Assembly in October 2023. In November,

Plaintiffs—two North Carolina voters—sued the State Board of Elections and its members,

along with the President pro tempore of the North Carolina Senate and the Speaker of the

North Carolina House of Representatives, alleging that the bo