NC election officials reviewing 1,599 registrations flagged by federal citizenship system

The State Board of Elections says every registrant will receive due process before any removal proceeding begins.

RALEIGH — North Carolina election officials are developing a process to review 1,599 voter registrations identified by a federal system as potentially belonging to people who are not United States citizens.

The Department of Homeland Security released information Thursday showing that its Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements program, known as SAVE, identified the registrations after reviewing North Carolina voter data, according to the State Board of Elections.

The identified records represent approximately 0.02% of North Carolina’s roughly 7.8 million registered voters.

State Board Executive Director Sam Hayes said election officials will research state and county election records and other available sources to determine whether each person is eligible to vote.

If the available records do not resolve a person’s eligibility, the State Board will contact the registrant concerning citizenship status.

Hayes stressed that the federal results are potential matches and do not, by themselves, establish that all 1,599 people are ineligible.

“Each registrant will be afforded the appropriate due process before any removal proceeding is initiated,” Hayes said in a written statement.

Federal and state law generally require election officials to provide notice and an opportunity to respond before removing a registration based on eligibility questions. The State Board said it will follow all applicable state and federal laws during the review.

The agency has not announced how long the review will take or how many records may ultimately be confirmed as belonging to noncitizens. It also has not said whether any of the people identified have voted in a North Carolina election.

Citizenship is required to register and vote in North Carolina. Knowingly registering or voting while ineligible can result in criminal penalties.

The State Board said its process will be transparent and that additional information will be released as the review proceeds.

The review comes as election officials prepare for the November 2026 election and continue separate work involving incomplete voter-registration records, absentee-voting rules and statewide voter-list maintenance.

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.