Federal judge approves settlement of voter registration litigation

By Alan Wooten | The Center Square

photo courtesy of Alan Wooten | The Center Square

(The Center Square) – Voter registration litigation involving the State Board of Elections in North Carolina and the Trump administration ended Monday with a settlement signed by a federal judge.

The case, United States of America v. North Carolina State Board of Elections, was filed in May and led to the creation of the Registration Repair Project.

“Even before the U.S. Department of Justice filed this lawsuit, I had made it a priority to come into compliance with the Help America Vote Act and ensure that all individuals on our voter rolls are properly registered,” said Sam Hayes, the state board’s executive director. “I applaud the 100 county boards of elections and state board staff, who have worked diligently on this project. In less than three months, we have reduced the number of voters on the registration repair list by 22%. Our plan is working, and this number will continue to drop as more voters become aware of this effort and fix their registrations.”

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No voters were removed from the rolls because of the project that began June 24.

A release from the state board following the ruling of Judge Richard Myers, chief judge for the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina, says provisional ballots shall be case by registration repair voters until registrations are fixed. Their federal contest selections will count unless nullified for another reason.

But in state and local contests, their ballot selections will not count if the driver’s license number or last four digits of the Social Security number are not provided. County board of elections staff will help try to get the ballot eligible by the third business day after the election.

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Alan Wooten has been a publisher, general manager and editor. His work has won national or state awards in every decade since the 1980s. He’s a proud graduate of Elon University and Farmville Central High in North Carolina.