The U.S. Department of Justice and the North Carolina State Board of Elections filed a joint motion Wednesday asking a federal judge to approve an order that would end a lawsuit over incomplete voter registrations. The case, brought by the federal government in May, accused the state board of violating Section 303(a) of the Help America Vote Act (HAVA).
The proposed order, submitted to U.S. Chief District Judge Richard Myers, would remain in effect through June 30, 2027, covering all federal elections in the state. It requires the elections board to ensure registration applications include a driver’s license number, the last four digits of a Social Security number, or a state-issued identifier. The board must also maintain a compliant computerized statewide voter list, update records on an expedited basis, and contact voters whose applications lack required information.
Under the plan, voters who update their records will cast regular ballots, while those still missing identification numbers will vote provisionally. County elections officials will receive training to carry out the new procedures, and provisional ballots cast for federal races will still count if the voter is otherwise eligible. The order clarifies that no voter will be removed from the rolls solely for failing to update their record under HAVA.
At the start of the litigation, about 100,000 registrations were missing the required information. That number had fallen to 81,810 as of Sept. 2, with the board continuing efforts to collect data from affected voters.
The Justice Department and the state board argued the order is “fair, adequate, and reasonable” and urged Myers to deny intervention attempts by groups including the Democratic National Committee, NAACP, League of Women Voters of North Carolina, and North Carolina Alliance for Retired Americans. A Sept. 17 deadline was proposed if the court allows outside responses.
The lawsuit has unfolded alongside a separate Republican challenge. The Republican National Committee and North Carolina GOP sued last year, contesting 225,000 registrations linked to a disputed voter form and asking that voters be removed from the rolls or forced to cast provisional ballots in the 2024 general election. Courts rejected those requests.
