The State Board of Elections on Tuesday unanimously approved a plan to attempt to collect missing identification numbers for voters lacking them on the state’s voter rolls.
The goal of the three-part plan is to obtain driver’s license numbers (DL#) or the last four digits of Social Security numbers (SSN4) for registered North Carolina voters who lack either number in their voter records.
[See Plan to Collect Incomplete Registration Information from Certain Voters (PDF).]
This, state election officials believe, will bring the state into compliance with a recent N.C. Court of Appeals order, and ultimately resolve outstanding lawsuits regarding these registrations.
The federal Help America Vote Act, or HAVA, which took effect in 2004, requires any new registrant to provide a DL# or SSN4, or to indicate that they do not have either number.
However, in years past, the state used a voter registration application with instructions that did not make clear that these numbers were required, leading some voters to register without providing a driver’s license number or the last four digits of their Social Security number. The registration application was corrected in January 2024.
“I’ve said from day one that I am committed to bringing North Carolina into compliance with the law. I believe this three-part plan is the best way to ensure this happens,” said Sam Hayes, executive director of the State Board of Elections. “We are making this process as simple and straightforward as possible for the affected voters.”
Part 1: Mailings from the State Board to Affected Voters
Under the three-part plan approved Tuesday, the State Board in July will send a mailing to approximately 98,000 registered voters who registered after HAVA became effective in 2004, whose records apparently lack a DL# or SSN4 and who have not otherwise complied with HAVA. These voters will vote provisionally until they provide the information.
The State Board will send a second mailing this summer to approximately 97,000 voters who have complied with HAVA but for whom election officials do not have a DL# or SSN4 on the voter’s current registration record. This list includes voters who initially provided a DL# or SSN4 that did not validate, but subsequently complied with the law by providing an alternative form of ID (called “HAVA ID”) when voting. These voters will continue to vote regular ballots. Collecting this data will facilitate better voter roll list maintenance going forward because these identification numbers are used for various data checks used to keep voter rolls as accurate as possible.
After all other parts of this plan are completed, the State Board will send another mailing as a reminder to voters who still have not provided the required information.
Each mailing will include a self-addressed, postage-prepaid return envelope and a simple form for collecting the information, as well as information about the online NCDMV voter registration portal, where affected voters can update their registration information.
Part 2: Data Review/Correction by County Boards of Elections
From now through August, the 100 county boards of elections will review records in the voter registration database for “active” voters identified as potentially missing required identification numbers and correct records where the information was provided by the voter but not entered by the county board.
County boards also will correct records where the voter registered prior to HAVA taking effect in 2004, but the database shows the wrong registration date. This happened for a number of voters whose records were digitized in the early 2000s, and the county staff conducting the data entry in the electronic system keyed in the registration date as the date the record was digitized, even though the voter had long been registered.
For “inactive” status voters, county boards will provide information to the State Board on any necessary corrections to voter records, and the State Board will make the changes. This will ensure that the regular list maintenance schedule for these inactive voters is not upset.
Part 3: Provisional Voting for Voters Missing DL#/SSN4
In future elections, in-person voters who lack required information in the voter registration database must vote provisional ballots which will count, as long as the voter provides the required information. That process is easy — the application for voting a provisional ballot includes prompts for DL and SSN4.
The State Board is creating a flag to appear on these voters’ records in the electronic or paper poll books used at voting sites to alert poll workers that these voters must vote provisional ballots and provide the missing information for their ballot to count.
County boards will train poll workers accordingly, under the plan.