RALEIGH – The State Board of Elections says it will send letters this week to 1,392 registered voters flagged as potential noncitizens, while stressing that the notices do not cancel registrations or bar recipients from voting.
The records were identified through the federal Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements database, known as SAVE. The group represents about 0.02% of North Carolina’s 7.9 million registered voters, according to the board’s Oct. 13 announcement.
The letters will tell recipients how to voluntarily request removal if they were registered in error or how to provide information verifying U.S. citizenship. The board says receiving a letter does not mean a person is ineligible, cancel a registration or prevent an otherwise eligible voter from participating in the Nov. 3 election.
The Department of Homeland Security initially identified nearly 1,600 possible matches earlier this year. State election officials reduced that number to 1,392 after comparing SAVE results with voter files and Division of Motor Vehicles records.
The board cautioned that federal citizenship information can be incomplete or outdated, particularly for naturalized citizens. Before any removal proceeding begins, officials say they will review other available records and give affected registrants notice and an opportunity to respond. No voter will be removed automatically based only on SAVE data.
The mailing is a new step in a review the board announced in July. The U.S. Supreme Court on Sept. 25 allowed continued use of the expanded database while litigation over the federal program proceeds.
Carolina Public Press reported that a proposed challenge process approved by the board and Rules Review Commission remains delayed by legislative-review objections and will not take effect until after the election. The outlet also reported that eligible letter recipients may vote without taking an extra step before the election, though they can submit citizenship documents now to resolve the discrepancy.
The action follows two earlier stages already covered by NC Political News: the initial review of 1,599 registrations and the September court ruling that allowed the database to remain in use. This week’s mailing is distinct because it begins direct outreach to the remaining registrants as early voting is set to begin Thursday.
Sources
- North Carolina State Board of Elections announcement
- Carolina Public Press report on the letters and review process
- WECT report on the mailing and eligibility safeguards
Photo Credit: Warren LeMay via Wikimedia Commons, CC0 1.0 public-domain dedication. North Carolina State Capitol in Raleigh, photographed July 29, 2017. Reused unchanged from an existing NCPN card and copied to a story-specific Drive file; canonical NCPN footer and logo preserved. Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:North_Carolina_State_Capitol,_Raleigh,_NC_(28221598188).jpg. License: https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/
Editor’s Note: This article was drafted with the assistance of artificial intelligence and was reviewed and fact-checked by a member of the NC Political News editorial team before publication.