Nearly 750,000 ineligible registrations removed from North Carolina voter rolls: Elections officials

RALEIGH, N.C. (WTVD) -- The county boards of elections in North Carolina removed more than 747,000 ineligible registration records from the state voter rolls, officials said.

The process, which removed an average of over 1,200 voter records from the voter list each day, took election officials 20 months from the beginning of 2023 until August 2024.

Officials said the county boards followed policies to ensure that only ineligible records were removed.

New eligible voters are continuing to be added to the registration rolls. There are currently almost 7.7 million registered voters in North Carolina.

Election officials said registrants can be removed from the rolls for multiple reasons including:

• Moving to a different county or away from North Carolina.

• The registrant spent two federal general elections in inactive status and didn't respond to mailings from their county board of elections attempting to confirm their eligibility.

• The person died.

• The registrant was convicted of a felony and is serving a sentence, including probation, post-release supervision, or parole.

• There is a duplicate registration.

• The registrant requested to be removed.

• They were the subject of a successful voter challenge.

• The registrant is not a U.S. citizen.

"List maintenance is one of the primary responsibilities of election officials across North Carolina, and we take this responsibility seriously," said Karen Brinson Bell, executive director of the State Board of Elections. "Unfortunately, there is a lot of false information out there about our voter rolls and the efforts we undertake to keep them up to date. As we conduct these processes, we also must comply with state and federal laws and be careful not to remove any eligible voters."

Election officials said maintaining voter registration is an ongoing process and will evolve over time as officials discover new ways to identify invalid or inaccurate registrations.

ALSO SEE: North Carolina appeals court blocks use of university's digital ID for voting

RELATED: North Carolina's general election: Key dates and deadlines voters need to know