The Trump administration dropped a lawsuit against North Carolina after successfully pushing state officials to clean up their voter rolls.
Federal prosecutors settled with the North Carolina State Board of Elections after accusing state officials in May of failing to maintain a voter registration list compliant with federal laws, according to court documents. A top Trump administration attorney said Tuesday that she’s “pleased” with the progress North Carolina has made in removing names that lack sufficient information.
“Unsuccessful intervenors showed breathtaking hubris when they made alarmist accusations against the Department of Justice, and yet claimed credit for the very relief that the Department actively pursued in the complaint,” Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon of the Justice Department’s (DOJ) Civil Rights Division said in a public statement.
“Nevertheless, we are pleased with the progress North Carolina has made and will continue to make as it cleans up its registration rolls, as required by federal law,” Dhillon continued.
The Trump administration filed a lawsuit against the State Board of Elections on May 27, accusing North Carolina officials of failing to maintain an accurate voter list in violation of the Help America Vote Act (HAVA) and demanded the names of individuals who did not provide all required information to register to vote be removed from voter rolls.
North Carolina violated HAVA’s mandate by using a state voter registration form that did not require voters to “provide identifying information” such as the last four digits of a Social Security number or a driver’s license, according to the DOJ lawsuit. Voters who did not provide the required information were still allegedly added to North Carolina’s voter registration list and many remained on the voter rolls.
When the DOJ filed its lawsuit, roughly 100,000 voters lacked the required identifying information on the state’s registration rolls, according to prosecutors.
Such a large pool of potentially fraudulent voters could prove game-changing for a battleground state in which pivotal elections have come down to the wire in recent years. Outgoing GOP Sen. Thom Tillis, for example, won re-election in 2020 by a margin of less than 96,000 votes.
In a public statement following the court settlement, Sam Hayes, executive director of the State Board of Elections, said North Carolina has been working diligently to clean up the voter rolls.
“Even before the U.S. Department of Justice filed this lawsuit, I had made it a priority to come into compliance with the Help America Vote Act and ensure that all individuals on our voter rolls are properly registered,” Hayes said in a statement provided to the Daily Caller News Foundation. “I applaud the 100 county boards of elections and State Board staff, who have worked diligently on this project.”
“In less than three months, we have reduced the number of voters on the registration repair list by 22%,” Hayes continued. “Our plan is working, and this number will continue to drop as more voters become aware of this effort and fix their registrations.”
The lawsuit was one the White House’s latest moves to bolster election integrity across the country.
In March, President Donald Trump signed the “Preserving and Protecting the Integrity of American Elections,” an executive order that seeks to keep elections in compliance with federal laws that protect against illegal voting, discrimination and other forms of fraud. In May, the Trump administration rolled out a new feature for U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services which allows state and local officials to input Social Security numbers for verification of U.S. citizenship, helping prevent foreign nationals from participating in U.S. elections.
The Trump administration has sued other jurisdictions for allegedly failing to maintain satisfactory voter maintenance systems. The DOJ sued Orange County, California, in June for allegedly not handing over all documentation proving election officials are actively removing noncitizens from their voter rolls.
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