U.S. DOJ says NC failed to maintain accurate voter list in lawsuit against Board of Elections

NORTH CAROLINA (WTVD) -- The State of North Carolina and the North Carolina State Board of Elections are being sued by the U.S. Justice Department for failure to maintain an accurate voter list. The lawsuit says this is a violation of the Help America Vote Act (HAVA).

In addition, the lawsuit alleges that North Carolina, in violation of HAVA's mandate and clear Congressional intent, used a State voter registration form that did not require a voter to provide identifying information such as a driver's license or the last four digits of a Social Security number. Voters were then added to the State's voter registration roll without the required information, and many of these voters remain on the registration rolls without it, according to the lawsuit.

"The problem is that people vote. People run elections. And people do what people do -- is they make mistakes," said Greg Flynn, a Democratic member of the Wake County Board of Elections.

Flynn served three years as Chair of the Wake Board, and said he doesn't buy the claims that there are widespread inaccuracies in the state rolls.

"I believe a lot of the data is there, it just doesn't manifest itself instantly because, like I said, people vote and they don't always fit in the nice little rectangular parts of the database.

The DOJ's lawsuit alleges that "a significant number of North Carolina voters did not provide a driver's license number or the last four digits of a social security number... in violation of HAVA" - that's the Help America Vote Act, passed in 2002, that sought to reinforce election administration standards. Flynn believes the suit doesn't factor in the nuance that goes into voter registration, including human error and personal information changing over time.

"What the suit is trying to do is say, 'Oh, because everything is perfect, you know, there's something illegal going on. It's not. It's because it's human beings who are filling out forms and human beings are collecting them," he said.

For example, Flynn said people who register to vote in a voter drive may not be subjected to rigorous verification when registering, even if they need to validate information when voting. That's because virtually anyone can volunteer to enroll voters, and those volunteers aren't typically versed in the minutia of state law. He contends the Voting Rights Act of 1964 makes it clear that voters can't be prevented from voting for errors or omissions on their registration, provided they meet the requirements to vote in the first place.

"That human part of a voter registration doesn't get subjected to federal law. And just because that information is inaccurate doesn't mean that a voter is prevented from voting," Flynn said.

President Trump signed Executive Order 14248 entitled "Preserving and Protecting the Integrity of American Elections' in March.

"Accurate voter registration rolls are critical to ensure that elections in North Carolina are conducted fairly, accurately, and without fraud," said Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon of the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division. "The Department of Justice will not hesitate to file suit against jurisdictions that maintain inaccurate voter registration rolls in violation of federal voting laws."

Sam Hayes, executive director of the State Board of Elections, provided ABC11 News with this response to the lawsuit:

"I was only recently notified of this action by the United States Department of Justice. We are still reviewing the complaint, but the failure to collect the information required by HAVA has been well documented. Rest assured that I am committed to bringing North Carolina into compliance with federal law."

According to court records, the Justice Department's lawsuit against North Carolina has been assigned to District Judge Louise Wood Flanagan, an appointee of former President George W. Bush.

The Civil Rights Division's Voting Section enforces the civil provisions of federal statutes that protect the integrity of the vote, including the Voting Rights Act, National Voter Registration Act, Help America Vote Act, and the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act.

Complaints about possible violations of federal voting rights laws can be submitted through the Civil Rights Division's website or by telephone at 1-800-253-3931.

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