The Trump administration’s Justice Department filed a federal lawsuit Tuesday accusing North Carolina’s election board of violating federal election law by failing to ensure that voter registration applications include required identifying numbers.
The suit seeks a court order compelling state officials to take immediate steps to correct the issue. Local elections start in September.
Associated Press
Why It Matters
The case spotlights how federal and state authorities are intensifying scrutiny of election procedures, particularly in battleground states. With a razor-thin margin deciding a recent state Supreme Court race, the outcome of this legal battle may influence broader political dynamics heading into the 2026 midterm elections.
What to Know
At the heart of the dispute is North Carolina’s alleged noncompliance with the 2003 Help America Vote Act (HAVA), which mandates that new voter registrations include either a driver’s license number, the last four digits of a Social Security number, or a unique state-issued identifier.
The DOJ argues that the state’s registration forms were unclear for years and that the election board failed to act decisively to remedy the issue, potentially jeopardizing the integrity of elections. Though it’s unclear how many records are impacted, prior estimates from GOP lawsuits suggested as many as 225,000.
Although the form was updated in 2023 under a Democrat-controlled board, officials opted not to contact voters who registered without providing the necessary data.
Instead, the board planned to collect missing information at polling places, on an ad hoc basis. The DOJ contends this is insufficient and is asking a judge to force the state to contact affected voters within 30 days and bring their records into compliance.
The issue resurfaced after Election Day through formal protests filed by the Republican candidate for a North Carolina Supreme Court seat, who challenged roughly 60,000 ballots. He argued those votes were cast by individuals whose…
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