North Carolina election officials routinely update the voter registration rolls through a uniform and nondiscriminatory program that complies with state and federal laws. So far this year, for example, the state and county boards of elections have worked to remove nearly 500,000 registration records that were eligible for removal under the law, as explained in more detail below.
This program helps ensure the accuracy of the voter registration database, while also preventing eligible voters from mistakenly being removed from the list.
“The State Board and county boards of elections take list maintenance seriously and spend a considerable amount of time and resources adding new voters and removing those who are no longer eligible to vote,” said Karen Brinson Bell, executive director of the State Board of Elections. “This is a daily effort across North Carolina.”
North Carolina’s list maintenance program is detailed in the North Carolina Voter Registration List Maintenance Guide.
County boards of elections routinely remove voters from the rolls for the following reasons:
- They moved, either to a different county or away from North Carolina.
- They died.
- They were convicted of a felony and are serving a sentence, including probation, post-release supervision, or parole.
- They had a duplicate registration.
- They requested to be removed.
- They were the subject of a successful voter challenge.
- They are not a U.S. citizen.
2025 List Maintenance to Date
Through the first three months of 2025, county boards removed nearly 499,000 voter records from the registration rolls, with the vast majority of those being voters who have not voted or had contact with their county board in eight years and are removed as part of the regular list maintenance process described below.
“These are routine processes, required by law, to ensure the voter rolls are as clean and up to date as possible,” Brinson Bell said. “Great care is taken to ensure that only voters who are no longer eligible are removed from the voter list.”
Read the sections below for details on the reasons voters are removed from the rolls, as well as the chart on removals and reasons for removals so far in 2025.
Biennial List Maintenance
Earlier this year, county boards of elections removed nearly 420,000 “inactive” voter registrations from the voter rolls as part of the routine biennial list maintenance process. These registration records were removed after the voters were sent a mailing in 2021 because they had not voted or had any contact with election officials in two prior federal election cycles. When they didn’t respond to that mailing, their registration was placed in “inactive” status. They were removed this year after two more federal election cycles in inactive status, without voting and without having contact with their county board of elections.
However, there are safeguards in this process. Any removed registrant must be reinstated if the voter appears to vote and affirms that the voter has not moved out of the county where they are registered to vote and has maintained residence continuously within that county.
These are the procedures required by federal law, the National Voter Registration Act (52 U.S.C. 20507), and state law, N.C.G.S. § 163-82.14.
Deceased Voters
Each week, the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services provides the State Board a list of individuals who have died in the state. The State Board matches the records of deceased North Carolinians with voter registration records to determine if any of the people who have died are registered voters. The resulting list of deceased voters is then provided to the county boards of elections, which remove deceased voters from their rolls. County boards also may receive official death notices from their local register of deeds offices and remove voters based on that data. Finally, counties may remove a deceased voter upon written confirmation of the voter’s death from a near relative.
In the first three months of 2025, county boards removed more than 25,000 registrations of deceased voters.
Felony Convictions
Under state law, people convicted of felonies lose the right to vote until they have completed their sentence, including time in prison or jail, as well as any period of probation, post-release supervision, or parole.
Every day, the State Board provides to county boards of elections a real-time report that includes data from the N.C. Department of Adult Correction on individuals serving felony sentences in the state. If the county board determines that a registered voter is on the list, they are removed from the rolls, upon notice and opportunity for the voter to show they are, in fact, eligible.
Additionally, federal prosecutors' offices provide quarterly reports on individuals convicted of felonies in federal court. State Board staff then forward reports to the county boards, which remove voters convicted of federal felonies, upon notice and opportunity to show they are, in fact, eligible.
During the first three months of 2025, 2,849 voters were removed from the rolls due to felony convictions.
Once their supervision period is over, a person convicted of a felony automatically regains the right to vote. They must still register to vote, even if they were previously registered to vote prior to their felony conviction.
Non-Citizenship
A 2024 state law requires the clerks of superior court in North Carolina to provide lists to the State Board of individuals who request to be excused from jury duty by indicating on a court form that they are not U.S. citizens. Within 30 days, the State Board matches those lists with the voter rolls. For any matches, State Board staff research state and federal databases to try to confirm the citizenship status of the affected individuals.
The State Board then notifies the county boards of any registrants who, according to the research, are not listed as U.S. citizens in government databases. The relevant county boards then notify the voters that they will be removed from the rolls unless they object and show that they are, in fact, eligible.
So far in 2025, five people believed to be non-citizens have been removed from the rolls, including three stemming from this jury excusal process, according to State Board data. Few people get excused for jury service for this reason. This is likely because jury lists are generated from the DMV customer list of citizens and the voter rolls, and based on historical experience, it is rare for non-citizens to register to vote.
Voter Moves and Duplicate Registrations
County boards of elections also remove the registrations of voters who move out of their county and update the registrations of voters who move within their county.
When counties process a new voter registration, the applicant’s information is checked against state voter registration records. If the statewide voter registration system shows the applicant is registered in another county, then that voter is automatically removed from the previous county of registration.
County boards also remove voters based on notices received from election jurisdictions outside of North Carolina that the voter has registered elsewhere in the United States.
For the first three months of 2025, county boards removed more than 43,000 registration records of voters who moved within the state or from the state.
Additionally, the State Board conducts numerous routine database queries to identify any duplicate registrations on the voter rolls. The resulting lists of possible duplicate records are provided to the county boards, who then carefully research the records to determine whether the records are, in fact, duplicate records for the same voter and, if so, they remove the duplicate record.
Using this process, the county boards removed more than 7,000 duplicate registrations during the first three months of the year.
Make Sure Your Voter Record Is Active and Up to Date
North Carolina has more than 7.5 million registered voters. [See Voter Registration Statistics.]
Voters may check their registration status at any time using the State Board’s Voter Search tool.
Eligible individuals can register online to vote if they have a North Carolina driver’s license or other NCDMV identification. Otherwise, any voter can fill out a paper voter registration application in English or Spanish and return it to their county board of elections. To learn more about registering to vote in North Carolina, visit Registering.
Count of Removals from Voter Registration Database by Reason
(January through March 2025)
Moved within state (Duplicate): 40,357
Two federal elections in inactive status: 419,937
Deceased: 25,119
Moved from state: 2,784
Duplicate/Merged duplicate: 7,017
Felony conviction: 2,849
Noncitizen: 5
Request from voter: 514
Other: 307
Total 498,889