RNC Files Another Lawsuit in North Carolina Over Noncitizen Voting, Targeting 225K Registrations
The Republican National Committee (RNC) filed another lawsuit in North Carolina on Friday targeting its voter rolls, claiming the State Board of Elections allowed noncitizens to register to vote.
The RNC, along with the North Carolina Republican Party, sued the state’s election board, alleging in their lawsuit that “it allowed over 225,000 people to register to vote with registration forms that failed to collect certain required identification information before the registration forms were processed.”
They stated prior to December, North Carolina used a registration form that did not inform voters that a driver’s license number or the last four digits of their social security number was required.
The Republicans argued this violates Section 303 of the Help America Vote Act (HAVA) and provisions of North Carolina law that require the state to properly maintain its voter rolls.
After receiving a complaint on Oct. 6 filed by a concerned citizen, the board issued an order on Dec. 6 to change their voter registration forms going forward. However, the board members denied the person’s request for officials to contact the voters whose registrations were “improperly accepted.”
The board stated that HAVA does not authorize them to contact registered voters and even if they didn’t provide this identifying information on the form, they will need to later in the process, like when applying for an absentee ballot or voting in-person.
The RNC argued this was a “half-hearted promise” that ineligible voters who were able to register using the form will “naturally filter themselves out from the state’s voter rolls when they conduct other election-related activities.”
The RNC and the state GOP asked a state court to order the North Carolina board of elections to develop and implement HAVA-compliant voter registration procedures before Sept. 6 — around two months from Election Day and the day that county election boards start sending out absentee ballots to voters who requested them.
They also urged the court to mandate the board must remove all ineligible voters from the state’s rolls, and if that’s not possible by next Friday, then they need to require individuals who did not provide the necessary identification to use a provisional ballot in elections until the information is provided.
Also, Patrick Gannon, spokesperson for the North Carolina State Board of Elections, expressed the board’s staunch opposition to this lawsuit in an email statement Monday.
“This lawsuit asks for an impossible solution,” Gannon said. “Despite being aware of their alleged claims months ago, the plaintiffs have waited until two weeks before the start of voting to seek a court-ordered program to remove thousands of existing registered voters.”
He explained under federal law, these removals can’t take place once there are less than 90 days until a federal election. There are currently 71 days until the November election, so “the lawsuit is asking for a rapid-fire voter removal program that violates federal law,” Gannon said.
Gannon also noted that federal law allows voters who lack either a driver’s license or the last four digits of their social security number to register. Additionally, he said that state law allows a “registrant whose information fails to exactly match with the DMV or Social Security databases” to show another type of ID before voting.
Also, he said if someone’s information doesn’t match these databases, that doesn’t necessarily mean they’re an ineligible voter.
“A common reason is a variation between married and maiden names in different government databases,” Gannon said. “These voters are also included in the plaintiffs’ alleged figures.”
In their lawsuit, the RNC said due to recent “rises in non-citizens and other unqualified persons voting or seeking to vote in elections,” the organization has been “forced” to divert its efforts and funds to protecting election security and integrity.
The RNC also stated in their Friday lawsuit that they have “information and belief” that noncitizens are voting but did not provide any concrete evidence.
This was one of two lawsuits the RNC and the North Carolina GOP filed last week in the state. In the other lawsuit, Republicans alleged the state board hasn’t followed a new law’s requirement to remove noncitizens recorded by county clerks from the state’s voter rolls.
This is part of the larger Republican agenda to push the narrative of noncitizen voting to sow doubt in the accuracy and security of the 2024 election. Most of the time, they cannot provide any solid proof of widespread noncitizen voting impacting the results of an election.
Proof of citizenship and photo ID requirements do not just stop noncitizens from voting — they also prevent eligible voters from casting ballots who do not have easy access to documents like birth certificates, passports, social security cards and driver’s licenses. Such requirements disproportionately impact voters of color and other minorities.
North Carolina has passed multiple voter suppression laws in recent years and many have been challenged in court. One law requires voters to provide approved photo IDs to vote in person and absentee and was challenged by the North Carolina State Conference of the NAACP earlier this year.
Republicans and right-wing groups have continued to ramp up their efforts to target states’ voter rolls in court, and these lawsuits will likely increase as the consequential presidential election gets closer.