Voter registration letters prompt hundreds of calls to Wake County Board of Elections

APEX, N.C. (WTVD) -- It has been nearly a week since Dorothea Barrow attempted to vote early in person at the John M. Brown Center in Apex, one of Wake County's early voting sites.

"I've been here for the last few years since I've lived in Holly Springs," Barrow said. "I like to early vote in Apex."

However, this time was different. Barrow encountered an issue when presenting her ID.

"She told me, 'You have some information missing, and we need your driver's license or Social Security number... so we can type it in,'" Barrow recalled. "I've been coming here year after year with no problems, and all my information is correct in the computer. I said, I don't understand why I need to provide this."

Barrow is among the 241,000 people identified by the North Carolina Board of Elections as having unvalidated ID numbers on their voter records, with 15,000 of them in Wake County.

Her experience at the voting site was an effort to update her records so the name on her voter registration matched other official records.

A letter was sent to the 241,000 affected voters a week before early voting began, but Barrow did not see it until after her attempt to vote.

"Even if I had received this letter, I would still have had questions," she said. "Why was there mismatched information in the first place? Why weren't there no red flags on the computer?"

Barrow is not alone in her concerns. The Wake County Board of Elections Director, Olivia McCall, said they are fielding numerous calls and even in-person visits regarding the issue.

"I think that what we're seeing is just some confusion on why did I receive this letter and why now?" she said. "It is not a fraudulent because there's some red flags that people look at whenever you're asked to send your driver's license or your Social Security number through the mail"

Here's what you need to know if you received this letter in the mail:

• The letter does not mean there's a problem with your voting record.
• It does not change how you vote or whether your vote counts.
• You can still vote with a regular ballot.
• Updating your information is not required -- just encouraged.

McCall talked about the benefits of providing the requested information to your respective board of elections

"It helps if that voter then moved to another county," she said. "Their information kind of stays with them when they register in another county."

She continued: "The more information we have, we have better accurate voter rolls. And I think that's the biggest thing as to why these letters did go out and the attempt to collect it."

ABC11 shared this information with Barrow. Now, equipped with answers, she walked back into John M Brown Center to vote.

"So as of yesterday, I felt singled out. I just wanted to do the early voting and be over with. But now that you have explained everything to me more, I can go in and be able to vote," said Barrow.