RALEIGH — The North Carolina State Board of Elections has launched its website to address driver’s license and Social Security number information missing from more than 103,000 state voter registration records.
“This project will not result in the removal of any eligible voter from the voter rolls, as some have inaccurately suggested,” The N.C. State Board of Elections (NCSBE) Executive Director Sam Hayes said in the press release. “Instead, it will result in cleaner, more complete voter rolls and full compliance with state and federal laws.”
Both state and federal laws for voter registration require either a driver’s license number or the last four digits of the voter’s Social Security number. Issues with North Carolina voter registrations missing data were due to a past registration form that was unclear about the required missing data. That form was correct in January 2024.
“We have gone to great lengths to make this process as straightforward and transparent as possible for the affected voters,” said Hayes. “We fully expect the number of voters on the list will decrease quickly.”
The rollout of the website is part of a plan to address the data issues that was unanimously approved by the members of the NCSBE at a meeting last month.
Last month, the estimated number of affected registrations was nearly 200,000.
Two groups of voters were identified during a call with media on the day of the rollout. One group is missing the required Help America Vote Act (HAVA) data (103,000), and another group provided that data but needs to update their information (93,000). As of late 2024, there were more than 7.8 million registered voters in the state.
The NCSBE indicated in a press release that the Registration Repair Project will address the legal complaint brought by the U.S. Department of Justice (USDOJ) as well as bring the voter rolls into compliance with state court rulings. The USDOJ’s lawsuit centers on the NCSBE’s “failure to maintain an accurate voter list in violation of the Help America Vote Act.”
During the call with media, North State Journal asked Hayes if he felt this action would appease the Trump administration’s lawsuit as well as the Democratic National Committee’s (DNC), which has filed to intervene in the suit and issued a threat of additional legal action if voters were removed from the rolls.
“We hope so,” Hayes replied. “I think I was clear in my remarks that no duly registered voter is going to be removed because of this project.
“We tried to make that as clear as possible despite the misinformation out there. So we hope certainly that this will satisfy their concerns.”
The missing data was also an issue raised during the lengthy state Supreme Court 2024 election case, resulting in the N.C. Court of Appeals issuing a ruling requiring the registrations be corrected.
The NCSBE indicated that in future elections, in-person voters who haven’t provided the required information to update their voter registration would have to vote using provisional ballots and provide the missing information when they go to vote.
NCSBE General Counsel Paul Cox clarified the topic of provisional ballots for reporters, saying that for state races, if a provisional voter provides missing information at the polls and what they provided checks out, their ballot will count.
He said that for federal elections, the National Voter Registration Act applies, and provisional ballot cases in those elections would count even if the voter had missing information.
“The poll workers are going to be instructed to tell voters who are voting provisionally that for this reason, they need to provide the information,” said Cox.
The Voter Registration Repair website (ncsbe.gov/registrationrepair) includes information about locating and updating a registration record, including a link to a Registration Repair Search Tool where voters can check to see if their registration is among those affected.
According to the NCSBE, the data will be refreshed each morning to only list registrations that still have data missing.
Voters who find their name on the list have three options for submitting their information:
• Those with a valid N.C. driver’s license or DMV ID number can update their voter registration form for free through the DMV online at payments.ncdot.gov. A DMV account is not necessary, and voters can click “Continue as Guest” and then “Yes” when asked to update voter information.
• Voters can visit their county board of election office to update their form but must bring their Social Security card and driver’s license.
• In early August, the NCSBE will send letters to voters who are still on the list when the mailing is sent. The mailing will have a form to fill out and a preaddressed, prepaid return envelope.
According to the NCSBE, all 100 county boards of elections were given “detailed guidance” to locate election records for the affected voters and fix any data entered incorrectly.
Additionally, the NCSBE will create a flag on these voters’ records so poll workers know which voters must vote provisional ballots and provide the missing information.
