The North Carolina Election Board (NCEB) recently made waves by purging hundreds of thousands of names from its voter rolls in advance of the upcoming presidential election. In a move that’s sure to raise eyebrows, especially in a key swing state, the NCEB removed a whopping 747,274 names. Of those, 130,688 were individuals who had passed away—so at least there’s that.
The largest chunk of removals came from nearly 290,000 voters who were identified as duplicates after moving within North Carolina. Apparently, the state’s officials finally got around to tidying up the voter rolls, which also meant wiping off one-third of voters who hadn’t participated in the last two federal elections. Other categories for removal included folks who moved out of state, those flagged as duplicates, convicted felons, and even a small number who requested to be removed themselves. How polite of them.
Given that North Carolina is a swing state, and Trump took it in 2020, the timing of this cleanup will likely have Democrats sweating a bit as Kamala Harris sets her sights on securing the state’s 16 electoral votes. Unsurprisingly, Democrats have been scrambling to bolster their campaign efforts here, knowing full well that losing North Carolina could put a serious dent in their path to victory.
The state’s importance in the upcoming election hasn’t gone unnoticed. There’s been a slew of lawsuits recently, including ones involving Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who’s had a hard time removing his name from the ballot to back Trump, and legal action from the GOP over concerns of noncitizen voting. One thing is clear: the stakes are high, and both parties are on edge.
By scrubbing more than 7% of the state’s potential voters, the NCEB has certainly stirred up the hornet’s nest of election integrity questions. After all, given the controversies of the last election, including widespread claims of voter fraud, everyone will be watching closely to see how things shake out. Let’s just hope they cleaned up more than just the voter rolls.
