NC elections board moves to check voter rolls for possible noncitizens
The North Carolina State Board of Elections voted Thursday to move forward with a statewide citizenship verification process that will check all registered voters against a federal database to identify possible non-U.S. citizens on the rolls. The action sets up a new layer of voter list maintenance ahead of the 2026 election cycle and comes as election officials and lawmakers continue to face pressure over voter eligibility and public confidence in election administration.
Under the process approved by the board, voters’ names, dates of birth and the last four digits of their Social Security numbers will be run through the federal Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements, or SAVE, database. The State Board said it recently entered into a memorandum of agreement with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services to use the system for that purpose.
“This is another way that we will continue to improve the accuracy of our voter rolls and make sure only eligible voters can cast ballots in this state,” State Board Executive Director Sam Hayes said in a release. “As noncitizens are removed from the voter list, necessary precautions will be taken to ensure that no eligible voters are affected.”
The board said voters identified by SAVE as potential noncitizens will not be removed automatically. Instead, election officials will first work with SAVE to determine whether other federal records show that the registrant is a U.S. citizen. Officials also will check voter registration records and other state databases to determine whether the voter has already provided proof of citizenship to a government agency. If no records show proof of citizenship, the voter will receive notice and an opportunity to correct or update the information before removal can occur.
The administrative rules adopted Thursday require that voters be given notice and an opportunity to be heard, including a chance to obtain and submit documentation of citizenship. The rules must still go to the Rules Review Commission for review and final approval before they take effect.
The State Board said the effort is rooted in the North Carolina Constitution, which limits voting in state elections to U.S. citizens, and noted that registering or voting as a noncitizen is a state and federal felony. At the same time, the agency said it does not have evidence that noncitizen voting is a widespread problem. The board cited a post-2016 election audit that found 41 ineligible noncitizens with legal status voted in that election out of nearly 4.8 million ballots cast. The agency also said some documented cases involved people who were misinformed about the law or mistakenly believed they were citizens.
The board said the new verification effort will also provide election officials and the public with more data about the scope of the issue in North Carolina. That data, the agency said, could inform future policy decisions and public debate over voter list maintenance and election integrity.
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.
