On Tuesday, the North Carolina State Board of Elections (NCSBE) unanimously approved a three-part plan to collect missing identification numbers of 195,000 voters on the voter rolls.
At last week’s meeting, executive director Sam Hayes said he came up with the plan that would work to obtain driver’s license numbers (DL#) or the last four digits of Social Security numbers (SSN4) for registered North Carolina voters who lack either number in their voter records.
The missing information has been a requirement of the Help America Vote Act (HAVA), which took effect in 2004.
The choice to provide either form of identification was marked as optional on the state’s voter registration form until Carol Snow filed a complaint with NCSBE in 2023, which discussed the matter at its Nov. 28, 2023, meeting.
The registration application was corrected in January 2024.
The US Department of Justice filed a lawsuit against the state and the NCSBE last month regarding the missing information.
State election officials hope the plan will resolve that lawsuit and others and bring the state into compliance with a recent NC Court of Appeals order.
“I’ve said from day one that I am committed to bringing North Carolina into compliance with the law,” Hayes said in a press release. “I believe this three-part plan is the best way to ensure this happens. We are making this process as simple and straightforward as possible for the affected voters.”
Here is a breakdown of the plan:
Part 1: Mailings from the State Board to Affected Voters
In July, the NCSBE will send a mailer to approximately 98,000 registered voters who registered after HAVA became effective in 2004, whose records apparently lack a DL# or SSN4, and who have not otherwise complied with HAVA. These voters will vote provisionally until they provide the information.
A second mailing will go out this summer to approximately 97,000 voters who have complied with HAVA but for whom election officials do not have a DL# or SSN4 on the voter’s current registration record. This list includes voters who initially provided a DL# or SSN4 that did not validate but subsequently complied with the law by providing an alternative form of ID (called “HAVA ID”) when voting. These voters will continue to vote with regular ballots.
After the rest of the plan is completed, the state board will send a reminder to those who still need to provide the required information.
Part 2: Data Review/Correction by County Boards of Elections
Now, through August, the 100 county board of elections will review records in the voter registration database for “active” voters who may have missing ID numbers and correct records where the voter provided the information but was not entered by the county board.
County boards will also correct records where the voter registered before HAVA took effect, but the database shows the wrong registration date.
Election officials say this happened for several voters whose records were digitized in the early 2000s because county staff conducting the data entry in the electronic system keyed in the registration date as the date the record was digitized, even though the voter had long been registered.
For “inactive” status voters, county boards will provide the state board with information on any necessary corrections to voter records, which the state board will correct.
Part 3: Provisional Voting for Voters Missing DL#/SSN4
In future elections, in-person voters who lack the required information in the voter-registration database will have to vote with a provisional ballot, which will count as long as the voter provides the required information.
The state board is creating a flag to appear on these voters’ records in the electronic or paper poll books used at voting sites to alert poll workers that these voters must vote provisional ballots and provide the missing information for their ballot to count.
County boards will train poll workers accordingly.
“The State Board of Elections is acting to correct numerous errors which have been identified for years as issues,” said NCGOP Chairman Jason Simmons in a press release. “This is an encouraging step towards restoring trust in state elections.”
Also on Tuesday, North Carolina State Auditor Dave Boliek released the list of appointed chairs to the state’s 100 county board of elections.
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