More voters will have to cast provisional ballots in state and local elections after an N.C. Board of Elections vote Wednesday.
The Board is asking people who do not have a driver’s license number or partial Social Security number connected to their name to supply one of those identifiers.
For certain voters, those identifying numbers may not be attached to their names as a result of a mismatch. If a name is misspelled, if voters change their names, if the numbers on a birth date are transposed, or one record has a middle name and another record doesn’t, for example, the numerical identifiers aren’t added to the voter registration file.
The three Republicans on the five-member Board voted to approve the plan that will require those voters who don’t have those identifiers connected to their names to cast provisional ballots and show an acceptable picture ID or document showing their residence when they vote.
Provisional ballots are kept separate from regular ballots. Local boards of election decide whether to count them if the information voters supply checks out.
Voters’ selections in federal races will count no matter what. But votes in local and state races could be thrown out in some circumstances.
“It will help us collect the missing information, verify that missing information and at the same time allow voters to proceed and comply with HAVA (the Help America Vote Act) and also our state law and state constitution obligations,” said Board member Stacy “Four” Eggers IV, a Republican.
Democrats on the Board were opposed. People whose names don’t have an identifier connected with their name will be repeatedly flagged. They will be required to cast provisional ballots — and fill out the voter registration form on the ballot with the identifiers — in election after election until their numbers validate.
The burden will disproportionately fall on women who change their names after they marry but don’t notify the Social Security Administration, said Siobhan Millen, a Democrat.
President Donald Trump’s Department of Justice is suing North Carolina over the missing information in the voter rolls. State Elections Executive Director Sam Hayes has said the plan to collect the information may help settle the lawsuit.
The DOJ lawsuit echoes arguments in lawsuits filed last year by GOP Appeals Court Judge Jefferson Griffin as he tried to have more than 60,000 votes thrown out with the aim of overturning Democratic Supreme Court Judge Allison Riggs’ election victory. Griffin’s lawsuit, in turn, mirrored arguments in a state GOP and Republican National Committee lawsuit that sought to kick more than 225,000 voters off the rolls before the 2024 election.
Eggers said he didn’t know of another way to collect the information and validate voters.
“I certainly don’t want to expose us to another Griffin and Riggs type situation, and this is the least intrusive option I’m aware of to accomplish this goal,” he said.
Republicans nix Sunday voting plans
Republicans on the Board flexed their new majority by rejecting plans for Sunday voting in Davidson and Union counties during early voting this year.
Democrats on the Board wanted to allow Sunday voting in those counties.
Whether or not to open polls on Sundays has divided Democrats and Republicans for years.
Democrats tend to support Sunday voting, an important day for Black churches that organize Souls to the Polls events.
Republicans tend to oppose Sunday voting, with some saying polls should be closed on the Christian day of rest.
County boards of election and the the State Board have new Republican majorities this year, giving the GOP the upper hand in the Sunday voting issue.
The State Board sets the early voting schedule when a local board cannot reach a unanimous decision and a county board member asks the state to step in.
Davidson had Sunday voting in previous elections. A minority on the Davidson election board wanted the polls open one Sunday during the early voting period.
“Every citizen should have fair access to the ballot box,” Brenda Clark, a member of the Davidson Board, said Wednesday. Sunday voting has the support of community ministers, she said.
Adding a Sunday to the early voting schedule was “rooted in equity, fairness, and accessibility,” she said. “We know that voting is both a sacred right and a civic duty, yet many of our citizens face barriers when polls are open on weekdays and on Saturday.”
Davidson Board member Richard Johnson, who represented the majority on the board, said Sunday turnout was low and opening that day was expensive.
Mail ballots are an option for people who can’t vote in person, he said.
Eggers said he opposed Sunday voting because in many cases it forces the county elections directors to work 17 days without a break before Election Day.
State Board member Jeff Carmon, a Democrat, said he will always vote in favor of Sunday voting.
“I think it’s important that we be consistent and create an environment where, no matter what your job title or what your situation is, there’s a time when you’re able to vote,” Carmon said.
The State Board put off discussion of whether it will feed voter information into the federal SAVE database that agencies use to verify immigration status and citizenship.
The Department of Homeland Security asked the Board if it wanted to be part of a “soft launch” that allows states to submit voter information, including the last four digits of their Social Security numbers, to check immigration and citizenship status.
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