Republicans sue NC elections board over noncitizen voter roll cleanup
Image attached of RNC Chairman Michael Whatley at NCGOP Convention Source: Jacob Emmons, Carolina Journal
By Carolina Journal Staff
The Republican National Committee and North Carolina GOP are suing the State Board of Elections. Republicans claim state election officials are ignoring a 2023 state law requiring removal from the voting rolls of noncitizens identified through jury questionnaires.
An elections board spokesman calls the accusations "categorically false." A statement Thursday evening calls on the Republican groups to "immediately rescind" their press releases.
“Plaintiffs seek a declaratory judgment that Defendants must conduct individually specific voter registration list maintenance efforts for people who have self-identified as non-citizens after their receipt of jury summonses,” according to the complaint filed Thursday in Wake County Superior Court. Section 44 of Senate Bill 747, approved over Gov. Roy Cooper’s veto in 2023, required the review.
“Plaintiffs also seek an order directing Defendants to comply with their obligations under North Carolina’s Public Records Act and produce documents that Plaintiffs have properly requested under the Act concerning Defendants’ compliance (or lack thereof) with Section 44,” the lawsuit continued.
Republicans cite a February 2024 report from state budget officials that “approximately 325,000 ‘unauthorized’ immigrants were residing in the state.”
“Safeguards related to non-citizen voting are particularly salient during this election cycle given the unprecedented millions of people who have illegally immigrated into the United States – apparently relocating, in many cases, to North Carolina,” Republicans’ lawyers wrote in the lawsuit.
“Only Americans should vote in American elections,” RNC Chairman Michael Whatley said in a news release. Whatley is the former chairman of the NCGOP. “If someone claims non-citizenship, they must be taken off the voter rolls – that's the law. The NCSBE has chosen to blatantly ignore the law, undermine basic election safeguards, and neglect a fundamental principle of our election integrity.”
“The RNC and NCGOP defended this law in court, and now we will make sure the NCSBE follows and enforces these critical safeguards in The Old North State,” Whatley added.
The North Carolina lawsuit “comes right on the heels of a major victory in SCOTUS to stop non-citizen voting in Arizona,” according to the GOP news release.
"Assertions in the lawsuit that the State Board is refusing to comply with Section 44 of Session Law 2023-140 are categorically false," elections board spokesman Patrick Gannon wrote in an email to Carolina Journal.
"We ask that the NCGOP and RNC immediately rescind their press releases on this topic, as they will undermine voter confidence on an entirely false premise," Gannon added.
Elections board staff "have worked diligently" with Superior Court clerks across the state to comply with the law, Gannon wrote to CJ. Based on information clerks submitted this month, the board has identified nine people on voter rolls who were excused from jury duty because they said they were not US citizens.
"If a check of state and federal databases shows any of those nine individuals have not obtained citizenship, the State Board will send them letters informing the registrants of the agency’s findings and invite them, if not U.S. citizens, to cancel their registrations to comply with the law," Gannon wrote.
The elections board must use this "method of compliance" this year because federal law blocks the state from removing voters from the rolls within 90 days of an election. That deadline passed on Aug. 7, Gannon explained.
In 2025, the process will resemble the one used for voters convicted of felonies and dead voters.
"The State Board has been transparent about this process from the very beginning," Gannon wrote. He noted elections board staff briefings for Republican legislative leaders, Republican and Democratic election officials, and Republican and Democratic clerks of Superior Court.
"Additionally, the request for agency records here was not denied," Gannon wrote. "The State Board receives numerous public records requests and letters from interested parties on a daily basis. The agency responds to these numerous requests as it is able to do so. Plaintiffs are required to follow up and attempt to resolve their request for records before they sue a state agency. To our knowledge, there was no attempt to follow up on this request."
Three active federal lawsuits challenge provisions of SB 747. One of those suits, filed by the Democratic National Committee and North Carolina Democratic Party, targets the Section 44 provision Republicans cite in their complaint.
US District Judge Thomas Schroeder rejected Democrats' request to block that provision through an injunction. Schroeder agreed to block another portion of SB 747 dealing with same-day voter registration.
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