DOJ Demands Action on Voter Registration Records
In a move likely to signal a renewed attempt to purge hundreds of thousands of legally registered voters from the voter rolls, the Trump Department of Justice (DOJ) has sued the NC State Board of Elections (NCSBE) over allegedly defective voter registrations.
Lawyers for the DOJ Civil Rights Division filed the lawsuit in federal District Court for Eastern North Carolina on May 27. The complaint asks that the Court require the NCSBE to “develop a plan” within 30 days to contact all voters whose records lack a driver’s license or Social Security number (last four digits), purge the voter lists of “unqualified” voters, and send all the records to the DOJ.
The DOJ alleges that voter registrations without the requested information violate the federal Help America Vote Act (HAVA), and demands that the NCSBE speed up work that is already underway to correct those alleged violations.
Continuing the Push to Limit Voter Access
The DOJ’s claims echo many of the same allegations that underlay both the state Republican Party and Republican National Committee’s attempt in 2024 to purge 225,000 voters from the state’s rolls before the election, and the lawsuit by losing Supreme Court candidate Jefferson Griffin after the election to reverse his losing results by retroactively disqualifying over 65,000 citizens who actually voted in that contest.
If those past efforts are any indication of the course of this litigation, its authors will seek relentlessly to sow baseless doubt about the security of elections and the frequency of attempted fraud by voters. The new factors in the current lawsuit are that the plaintiff is the Dept. of Justice under the Trump Administration, and that the NCSBE is now controlled by appointees who approve of the purge and indicate that they are anxious to participate in it.
The Fight for Voting Rights Continues
Defenders of voting rights and genuine election integrity will need to step up again to block these efforts to deprive many thousands of North Carolina citizens of their right to vote. Join the fight! Donate here to help protect voting rights in North Carolina.
