On Tuesday, the North Carolina State Board of Elections (NCSBE) said it will begin sending letters to 1,392 registered voters identified as potential noncitizens through the federal Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) database.
That number is down from the 1,599 identified earlier this year by the Department of Homeland Security’s SAVE program.
The findings represent approximately 0.02% of North Carolina’s 7.9 million registered voters, according to an NCSBE press release.
NCSBE Executive Director Sam Hayes said at a meeting last Thursday that the state board had been working with the North Carolina Division of Motor Vehicles (NCDMV) to confirm the findings and that the number could change. The press release also said that further comparisons with the SAVE database led to a reduction in numbers.
“Maintaining accurate voter rolls and ensuring that only U.S. citizens participate in our elections are fundamental duties of the State Board,” Hayes said in the release. “While these registrations represent a small percentage of our voter rolls, one ineligible registrant is still one too many. We have a duty to enforce the law while protecting the rights of every eligible legitimate voter.”
President Donald Trump said a Department of Homeland Security review identified approximately 278,000 noncitizens registered to vote in federal elections across four states.
The Supreme Court gave the Trump administration the go-ahead on Sept. 25 in a 6-3 vote to use the revised federal database to verify voters’ citizenship ahead of the November general election.
The court paused a federal Washington, DC, judge’s ruling that blocked the use of the modified SAVE system, which is used by federal, state, territorial, tribal, and local government agencies to verify the immigration status and US citizenship of applicants seeking licenses or benefits, like Medicaid.
At Thursday’s meeting, Democratic board member Jeff Carmon said that there has been no evidence to date of widespread voter fraud or non-citizen voting in North Carolina.
“That does not mean our elections are perfect, or that legitimate concerns should not be investigated,” he said. “They absolutely should, but there’s a significant difference between legitimate oversight and repeatedly making unsupported allegations that undermine public confidence in our elections.”
Carmon said that election workers work tirelessly to administer elections fairly under heavy scrutiny and deserve their support, and that voters deserve the facts.
“So, I want to be clear,” he said. “North Carolina voters should have confidence in the security and integrity of their elections. Our responsibility is not to a political party, a candidate, or any political movement. Our responsibility is to the voters of North Carolina, and to the integrity of our electoral process.”
Fellow Democratic board member Siobhan Millen said she had questions about the letter’s wording and how the information found in the SAVE database would be used.
Hayes reiterated that the letter makes it clear that no one is automatically removed if their name is found in the SAVE database.
“The due process in reaching out to the voter, we thought that was incumbent on us to do now because we have that information,” Hayes said. “We are on notice, and in the wake of the recent ruling by the US Supreme Court, we thought that there is a risk there to some of these individuals who may not understand they may have been registered through the DMV, may have been waved through. And by (NCDMV) Commissioner (Paul) Tine’s own admission, that has happened.”
Hayes said there may be some illegal residents among this group and that they may believe they are entitled to vote because they are on the registration list, even though they are not citizens.
“So, we want to make it clear that there are criminal penalties,” Hayes said. “But our letter is very clear that we presume that everyone who is duly registered is a citizen of the United States and entitled to vote, such that if they feel that they are in fact entitled, then they should still feel free to vote. In fact, we encourage that, but they need to be careful.”
Millen said that while she didn’t have a problem with the letter, depending on how it is worded, she would have a problem if people on the list were used in the basis of a county-initiated challenge, like they do for felons and for people who are deceased, stating that while the Department of Corrections and the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services lists are accurate, the SAVE database is not.
Hayes told her no, and that this was an opportunity for due process for the registrants to be heard if they think they were added to the SAVE database by mistake, and not the basis for any removal.
According to the press release, the letters will instruct registrants either to voluntarily request removal from the voter rolls if they were registered in error or provide information verifying their US citizenship.
The state board stressed that a SAVE match does not necessarily mean a person is ineligible to vote. Citizenship information may be incomplete or outdated, particularly for individuals who have become naturalized US citizens.
Once data is returned from SAVE, the State Board conducts additional reviews, including checking voter records to see whether a registrant previously presented a US passport when voting or provided citizenship documents to NCDMV.
Receiving a letter does not cancel an individual’s voter registration or automatically prevent an otherwise eligible voter from participating in the Nov. 3 general election, according to the release. Any voter challenge or determination of ineligibility must follow the procedures established under North Carolina and federal law.
The state board said that it will continue to review citizenship information, resolve discrepancies, and maintain accurate voter registration records ahead of the election.
More information about the SAVE verification process and voter list maintenance is available on the NCSBE website under “Maintaining Accurate Voter Rolls.”