Understanding the Voter Purge in North Carolina
Accurate voter roll maintenance—removing people who move, pass away, or otherwise become ineligible to vote— is an important part of ensuring election integrity.
However, in recent years, discriminatory and partisan voter roll maintenance has caused voter disenfranchisement across the country.
In North Carolina, Black and young voters have been placed on Inactive status and removed from voter rolls at the highest rates (up to twice the rate of other demographic groups).
Selective voter maintenance disproportionately impacts:
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Black voters,
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younger voters (especially those who rent and have new mailing addresses)
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other racial and ethnic minority voters,
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Rural voters,
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lower-income voters
If you were removed, you can still vote in the 2024 Election via same-day registration during the Early Voting period (October 17th, 2024-November 2, 2024).
How Voter Purges Affect NC Voters?
Voters can be placed on Inactive list and removed from the rolls for many reasons.
In the past 2 years, 747,000 North Carolina voters have been removed from the rolls, making up just under 10% of the state’s total count of registered voters.
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Black registered voters were more likely to be removed than other demographic groups.
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Multiracial voters, Indigenous voters, and Hispanic voters were also over-represented in the removals.
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Historically, younger adults have been particularly impacted by voter roll removals: in 2021, while voters aged 26-40 represent only a quarter of North Carolina voters, they represented nearly half (46%) of voters removed from the rolls.
Voters can easily protect themselves from being improperly removed if they check their status and confirm their mailing address before the election. If they find that they were removed from the rolls, they should vote early so that they can utilize same-day voter registration.
Why Does This Matter?
North Carolina does not have same-day voter registration on Election Day, meaning that if someone is unknowingly removed from the polls during the biannual list maintenance cycle, they could lose their ability to vote in the next election.
Every eligible North Carolina voter—no matter their race, geographic location, or socioeconomic status—must have their vote counted if we want to maintain secure and democratic elections.