Trump administration sues North Carolina over its voter registration records [View all]
Source: ABC News/AP
May 27, 2025, 7:20 PM
RALEIGH, N.C. -- The Trump administration accused North Carolina's election board on Tuesday of violating federal law by failing to ensure voter registration records of some applicants contained identifying numbers. The Justice Department sued in federal court also asking a judge to force board officials to create a prompt method to obtain such numbers.
The department alleges that the state and the board aren't complying with the 2002 Help America Vote Act after board officials provided a statewide voter registration form that didn't make clear an applicant must provide either a driver's license number or the last four digits of a Social Security number. If an applicant lacks neither, the state must assign the person another unique number.
A previous edition of the state board, in which Democrats held a majority, acknowledged the problem in late 2023 after a voter complained. The board updated the form but declined to contact people who had registered to vote since 2004 in time for the 2024 elections so they could fill in the missing numbers. According to the lawsuit, the board indicated that such information would be accumulated on an ad hoc basis as voters appeared at polling places. It's unclear exactly how many voters' records still lack identifying numbers.
Lawyers from the department's Civil Rights Division contend the board must act more aggressively. They want a judge to give the state 30 days to develop a plan to contact voters with records that don't comply with federal law, obtain an identifying number for each and add that to the electronic list. The litigation follows similar efforts by the Republican Party and a state GOP candidate to address the registration records for the 2024 election.
Read more: https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory/trump-administration-sues-north-carolina-voter-registration-records-122250049
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