WILMINGTON, NC — A deal between the US Department of Justice (DOJ) and the North Carolina State Board of Elections (NCSBE) to settle a lawsuit will force nearly 100,000 registered voters to re-prove their eligibility to vote to ensure future ballots will be counted. Individual North Carolina voters and a coalition of nonpartisan civil rights organizations sought to intervene in the case to bring the voices of impacted voters to the table.
The settlement stems from a DOJ lawsuit claiming North Carolina is not complying with the Help America Vote Act (HAVA) based on alleged missing personal identifying information in voter registration databases due to errors by the state. Under the settlement, voters who were never asked to provide this information will now be compelled to supply a driver’s license number or the last four digits of their social security number before or at the next election to have their ballot count in all races; otherwise, it will only count in federal elections.
Also, election officials must now fix records for the nearly 100,000 voters who already provided this information, but it was missing in the state’s database through no fault of their own. These new terms risk jeopardizing some eligible voters’ ballots.
Individual North Carolina voters Amy Grace Bryant, Rani Dasi, Audrey Meigs, Gabriela Adler-Espino, Larry Repanes, Ralim Allston, Kemeka Sidbury, and Mary Kay Heling, along with the NAACP North Carolina State Conference and the League of Women Voters of North Carolina — represented by attorneys from Southern Coalition for Social Justice, Forward Justice, and the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU Law — filed a motion to intervene early in the case, United States v. NC State Board of Elections.
They were especially afraid that eligible voters might be improperly removed from the rolls due to the state’s mistakes. The settlement, which was finalized before the court ruled on the voters’ motion to join the case, appears to take those concerns into account.
“I’ve voted in Wake County since 2016, always following every rule, yet I’m still at risk of being on the state’s list of supposedly ‘incomplete’ registrations,” said Mary Kay Heling, an unaffiliated voter in Raleigh. “Now this settlement will force other voters like me to fix mistakes they didn’t make. If you do everything right, you shouldn’t have to fight to keep your right to vote.”
“North Carolinians who have followed state-created procedures to register and vote should be confident that their vote will count. They should not have to fear that their right to vote can be questioned at any time,” said Jennifer Rubin, president of the League of Women Voters of North Carolina. “North Carolina's voters should not be forced to choose between navigating new, unnecessary, burdensome bureaucratic hurdles or being silenced in the next election.”
“The right to vote is the foundation of our democracy, and shifting the burden of fixing state record-keeping errors onto voters is both unfair and unlawful,” said Marcia Johnson, chief of activation and justice at the League of Women Voters of the US. “This agreement, reached behind closed doors, disregards the will of the voters and erodes trust in our election system. The League will continue to fight policies like this that make it harder for eligible voters to cast their ballots and have them counted.”
“Changing the rules without voters at the table is unacceptable,” said Deborah Dicks Maxwell, president of the NAACP North Carolina State Conference. “North Carolina should be making it easier for people to vote, not harder. This settlement proposal does the opposite, and it does so in a way that will hit Black voters and marginalized communities the hardest. It is no more than another method to undermine and destroy voter participation in the democracy of our State and nation.”
Background
The Justice Department filed the lawsuit against the North Carolina State Board of Elections in late May 2025. For years, North Carolina’s voter registration forms requested — but did not require — a driver’s license number or the last four digits of a Social Security number. Although the form was changed in 2023 to clarify the requirement, voters already on the rolls were not at fault for the missing information and, in fact, many of them had already provided the information or did so in subsequent interactions with their local county boards of elections when voting.
The settlement bypasses public input, locking in a burdensome process that shifts responsibility for the state’s data errors onto voters who were never before told they needed to provide this information (those who provided the information and their county failed to record it are not required to take any action under the settlement). This follows years of repeated, politically-driven challenges to North Carolinians’ eligibility to vote, including an October 2023 administrative complaint, an ongoing August 2024 lawsuit, and post-election challenges after the 2024 North Carolina Supreme Court race.
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The League of Women Voters of North Carolina is a nonpartisan, grassroots organization, working to protect and expand voting rights in North Carolina and ensure everyone is represented in our democracy. We empower voters and defend democracy through advocacy, education, and litigation. Learn more at my.lwv.org/north-carolina-state.
The NAACP North Carolina State Conference was founded in 1943 and is the oldest and largest nonpartisan civil rights organization in North Carolina, overseeing the programmatic work of over 120 NAACP branches, youth councils, and college chapters. The NAACP North Carolina State Conference is focused on advocating for policies and programs to benefit Black North Carolinians and people of color. Learn more at ncnaacp.org.
Southern Coalition for Social Justice, founded in 2007, partners with communities of color and economically disadvantaged communities in the South to defend and advance their political, social, and economic rights through the combination of legal advocacy, research, organizing, and communications. Learn more at southerncoalition.org and follow our work on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn.
Forward Justice is a nonpartisan law, policy and strategy center dedicated to advancing racial, social, and economic justice in the U.S. South. Our work catalyzes success for social movements and expands opportunities for people affected by injustice. Learn more at forwardjustice.org.
The Brennan Center for Justice at NYU Law is a nonpartisan law and policy institute that works to reform and defend our country’s systems of democracy and justice. Learn more at brennancenter.org.