North Carolina election officials: No voters will be removed over missing information
Members of the North Carolina Board of Elections are sworn into office on May 7, 2025. (Photo: Lynn Bonner/NC Newsline)
by Brandon Kingdollar, NC Newsline
July 17, 2025
The North Carolina State Board of Elections rolled out its plan to collect missing information from more than 100,000 North Carolina voters on Thursday and vowed that no one will be removed from the registration rolls over the discrepancy.
In a call with reporters Thursday morning, NCSBE executive director Sam Hayes said the board plans to contact roughly 103,000 registered voters who lack either a driver’s license number or the last four digits of their Social Security Number on record — missing information that formed the basis of Judge Jefferson Griffin’s efforts to throw out more than 60,000 ballots case in the 2024 state Supreme Court election.
“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. “Instead, it will result in more complete voter rolls and full compliance with state and federal law.”
Hayes added that he hopes the initiative will also have the benefit of “helping us settle pending litigation on this topic” — a reference to a lawsuit brought by the Trump administration in May over the missing identifiers. The Democratic Party also wrote in a letter on July 11 that it was considering litigation over any plan that “effectively removes registrants from the official list of eligible voters.”
The state election board launched a “Registration Repair” webpage explaining how to provide missing information for voters whose registrations lack the identifiers, as well as a database where voters can search for their names to see if they must supply identification information in order to vote. The data was not previously collected because a registration form used until January 2024 incorrectly displayed the identifiers as optional.
Registered voters on the list who do not provide the missing information ahead of the election can still cast their ballots, but will be directed by poll workers to submit provisional ballots including either their driver’s license number or the last four digits of their Social Security Number. Once that information is validated through the DMV or Social Security Administration databases, the ballots will be counted normally.
According to Paul Cox, the elections board’s general counsel, if that information is omitted from the provisional ballot application or is found to be incorrect, then the vote will not count for state and local elections, only those at the federal level, such as the U.S. Senate.
“The U.S. Department of Justice has made clear to us in our discussions that they interpret the National Voter Registration Act, the federal law, to require votes that are cast provisionally under this process to count for federal contests,” Cox said. “Those are duly registered voters, and you can’t, under the National Voter Registration Act, deny them the ability to cast their ballots in a federal contest.”
Cox added that the state board interprets the state Court of Appeals and Supreme Court decisions in the Griffin challenges to require voters who have not supplied either identifier to vote provisionally, and if they fail to provide it in their provisional ballot application, then the votes cannot be counted for state races.
It’s unclear whether the additional assurances will deter the Democratic Party from legal action. In its July 11 letter, 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 state board has been at the center of controversy since the General Assembly transferred its oversight from Governor Josh Stein to State Auditor Dave Boliek, in doing so flipping it to a Republican majority. Hayes, the new executive director, previously served as counsel to GOP Speaker of the state House of Representatives Destin Hall.
State election officials said they will contact any voters still missing information in August by mail, including a postage-prepaid return envelope with a form allowing them to supply the information and instructions on how to add it to their registration online, whichever mode they prefer.
The board has also directed county election boards to search election records for any identification numbers that may be stored locally but not in the state registration system. Efforts to locate improperly recorded information have already yielded identifiers for another roughly 90,000 voters who previously lacked it in the statewide database, Cox said. Those voters will be contacted separately by mail to ensure their information is correct, but will not be required to cast provisional ballots.
“We’ve gone to great lengths to make this process as straightforward and transparent as possible, both for the affected voters and the public in general,” Hayes said. “We anticipate the number of voters on the list will decrease quickly as word spreads about this important effort.”
In a press release accompanying the Registration Repair project rollout, North Carolina election officials outlined three ways to provide the requested information:
- If you have an N.C. driver’s license or DMV ID number, you can submit an updated voter registration form through the DMV’s website at payments.ncdot.gov. You can click “Continue as Guest” when asked to log in to myNCDMV. There is no fee for this service. Click “Yes” when asked to update your voter information.
- You can visit your county board of elections office, and they can help you ensure your registration is complete. You will need to have your driver’s license number or social security number with you. See the County Board of Elections Search for addresses and contact information for all 100 county boards of elections. The State Board and county boards of elections will not request your personal information over the phone.
- Finally, in early August the State Board will mail letters to individuals who remain on this list at the time the mailing is sent. You can fill out the letter and mail it to the county board of elections in the pre-addressed return envelope enclosed with the letter. Postage is provided on the envelope.
NC Newsline is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. NC Newsline maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Rob Schofield for questions: info@ncnewsline.com.
