Data Collection Process at NC State Elections Board is Concerning for Voting Rights

How is the new NC State Elections Board (NCSBE) like a Magic Eight Ball? Because the answer is hazy; ask again later.

Sam Hayes, the new executive director of the NCSBE, told reporters last week that the state board intends to collect data from about 100,000 voters whose state registration records don’t show drivers license or Social Security numbers (last four digits).

This “curing” process – so called because it “cures” the state’s clerical errors of missing information – will supposedly not result in the removal of voters. “I want to make it abundantly clear that this project will not result in the removal of any eligible voter from the voter rolls, as some have inaccurately suggested,” Hayes said.

However, that statement fails to address the issue of what will happen to voters whose registration information is considered incomplete. They will be forced to vote provisional ballots, and if the data they provide isn’t confirmed by the elections boards in time, or if the voter-provided information doesn’t match other state administrative records, then their votes will not be counted in state and local races.

Click here to see if you or your loved ones are on the list of 100,000+ North Carolinians facing voter disenfranchisement.

Why This is Concerning for Democracy

In a July 11 letter to the NCSBE, Democratic party attorney Seth Waxman wrote that “requiring voters to cast provisional ballots that may not be counted” is effectively the same as striking them from the list of eligible voters. “Members of the Democratic party who attempt to update registration records during the voting process will be disenfranchised when they submit driver’s license number or partial Social Security numbers that fail to match administrative records,” Waxman wrote.

The Republicans now in charge of the Board of Elections are clearly continuing their pursuit of the fabled “voter fraud.” They’ve been searching for that since Trump claimed without evidence that massive fraud was responsible for his loss in the 2020 elections.

And they seem determined to find it even if they have to make it up.

Click here to see if you or your loved ones are on the list of 100,000+ North Carolinians facing voter disenfranchisement.

Why This Matters for the Environment

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