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The North Carolina State Board of Elections will send letters to roughly 1,400 people this week who it says were identified as potential noncitizens on voter rolls after they were flagged by a U.S. Department of Homeland Security database.
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“The State Board of Elections has received information that you may not be a U.S. citizen,” the letter states. “… You must be a U.S. citizen to vote in North Carolina. If our information that you are not a U.S. citizen is correct, you cannot vote.”
In a press release, the board stated that none of the affected registrants would be automatically removed from the voter rolls, but would be asked to voluntarily cancel their registration if they indeed lack citizenship.
Those who believe they received the letter in error are directed to provide proof of citizenship to election officials. They will not, however, be prevented from casting a ballot in this year’s election if they fail to respond, so long as they are eligible to vote.
“Maintaining accurate voter rolls and ensuring that only U.S. citizens participate in our elections are fundamental duties of the State Board,” Sam Hayes, executive director of the State Board of Elections, said in a statement. “While these registrations represent a small percentage of our voter rolls, one ineligible registrant is still one too many. We have a duty to enforce the law while protecting the rights of every eligible legitimate voter.”
Officials are sending the letter to 1,392 registrants — a decrease from the 1,600 initially flagged by SAVE, the federal database. The state board said it was able to reduce that number by cross-checking registrations with other state databases, which confirmed some of the flagged voters’ citizenship.
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Critics have raised concerns about the reliability of the system, which has been shown to flag eligible voters. In one Texas county, officials found that at least 10% of the voters flagged as noncitizens were, in fact, legal U.S. citizens, AP reported.
A federal court had previously blocked states from using SAVE — which was initially created to check eligibility for government benefits — for checking voter eligibility, a new use the Trump administration has promoted. However, last month, the Supreme Court reversed that order, allowing states to opt back in.
The Republican majority on the North Carolina State Board of Elections had already voted to use SAVE in April and announced renewed plans to contact the flagged voters after the Supreme Court issued its ruling.
The news comes days before in-person early voting begins on Oct. 15.
North Carolina voters can check their registration status online at vt.ncsbe.gov/RegLkup.
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