(TheIndependentStar.com) – Amidst concerns over voter fraud and a contentious upcoming election season, the North Carolina Board of Elections has purged 747,000 ineligible voters.
This extensive cleanup mainly involves names invalidated due to moves, absenteeism in previous federal elections, deaths, felonies or citizenship issues.
The pruning of these voters has happened at an astonishing rate—an average of 1,200 voters daily since early 2023.
The executive director of the State Board of Elections, Karen Brinson Bell, highlighted that list maintenance is essential for the integrity of the election process.
Meanwhile, the board stated that a significant portion of these removals stems from voters relocating within North Carolina, not updating their addresses, or failing to participate in the past two federal elections. Other critical reasons include deaths and felonies.
“List maintenance is one of the primary responsibilities of election officials across North Carolina, and we take this responsibility seriously,” Bell said in a press release.
She noted the overwhelming burden of false information about voter rolls but emphasized compliance with state and federal laws.
Despite this massive removal, North Carolina’s voter rolls remain strong, with about 7.7 million registered voters.
Moreover, the state has followed a common practice seen nationwide. Texas recently removed 1 million voters, while Oregon removed 1,200.
These efforts catch the eye, particularly as North Carolina is a pivotal battleground with tight polls between significant political figures like Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump and Democrat Kamala Harris.
However, not everyone is assured by these measures, as Republicans have voiced worries about potential voter fraud and even filed a lawsuit claiming the state failed to adequately address ineligible voters on the rolls.
This lawsuit is part of a sequence of five considerable legal actions scrutinizing the NC State Board of Elections.
“By failing to collect certain statutorily required information prior to registering these applicants to vote, Defendants placed the integrity of the state’s elections into jeopardy,” the GOP lawsuit highlighted.
The lawsuit specifically pinpointed voter registration forms in Wake County that allegedly lacked mandated driver’s license and Social Security numbers.
Likewise, another legal move questioned the approval of digital IDs from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill as valid voter IDs, which were promptly rejected by a local judge.
“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,” Bell added.
North Carolina has referred only eight cases of non-citizens registering or voting for further investigation between 2015 and 2022, cementing the fact that significant evidence of non-citizens voting remains absent.
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