SCSJ, Partners Warn NC Voter Rules Could Target Eligible Citizens

"(Jan. 27, 2026) - The North Carolina State Board of Elections has proposed several rules establishing a challenge process for voters deemed "presumptive non-citizens," and has opened a public comment period from January 15 to March 16, 2026. While the exact process for identifying challenged voters is not yet public, the State Board of Elections has indicated that county boards of elections will bring and hear challenges to voters based upon information received from the federal Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) system."

"As recently pointed out by SCSJ and partner Fair Elections Center, recent changes to the SAVE system have introduced highly unreliable citizenship information and resulted in other states having eligible voters' citizenship wrongly questioned. In a December 16, 2025, letter, SCSJ and Fair Elections Center urged the North Carolina State Board of Elections to exercise extreme caution in using the federal SAVE system for voter roll maintenance,"

"On January 27, 2026, SCSJ, FEC, and partners League of Women Voters of North Carolina and Common Cause North Carolina urged the North Carolina State Board of Elections to adopt revisions to the Proposed Rules to protect eligible voters at risk of being removed during the challenge process. Read the public comment on proposed non-citizen list maintenance rules here."

The North Carolina State Board of Elections proposed rules to create a challenge process for voters identified as "presumptive non-citizens," with a public comment period from January 15 to March 16, 2026. County boards are expected to bring and hear challenges based on federal SAVE system information, though the identification process has not been published. Recent changes to SAVE have produced unreliable citizenship data and led to eligible voters being wrongly questioned in other states. SCSJ, Fair Elections Center, League of Women Voters of North Carolina, and Common Cause urged revisions and extreme caution to protect eligible voters from wrongful removal.

Read at SCSJ