DNC wins crucial victory to protect voting rights for over 80,000 North Carolinians who had minor information missing from their voter registration records

Today, in a major victory for the North Carolina voters, after intervention from the DNC, DOJ and the North Carolina State Board of Elections backed down from their plan to discard votes cast by over 80,000 voters in North Carolina voters who had minor information missing on their voter registration records, ensuring these voters will have their votes counted in future federal elections. 

To view the notice letter to the State Board of Elections, click here. 

To view DOJ’s proposed settlement, click here.

In July, the DNC sent a letter to the North Carolina State Board of Elections fighting back against their original plan to address HAVA lawsuits brought by the RNC and DOJ.  That plan would have required tens of thousands of North Carolinians to vote provisionally and would have rejected those ballots until their registration issues were resolved. 

The DNC argued that this violated the National Voter Registration Act, which limits removal from the official list of eligible voters for federal elections. Today, DOJ and State Board of Elections backed down, ensuring that these voters would have their votes counted and voices heard in future federal elections in North Carolina. Now, the fight continues to ensure that these same ballots are counted in state and local elections.

DNC Litigation Director Dan Freeman issued the following statement:

“Today, the DNC successfully defended the rights of at-risk North Carolinians. DOJ and the North Carolina State Board of Elections have accepted the DNC’s demand that they not discard votes cast by over 80,000 registered voters in federal elections. Though there is still work to be done to ensure that North Carolina voters’ voices are heard in state and local elections, this is a huge victory for the DNC and, more importantly, our democracy. Democrats will never stop fighting for the rights of all North Carolina voters.”

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