Overview:
• The state failed to collect driver’s license numbers or social security digits for 70,000 voters.
• For another 241,000 voters, their voter registration information does not match their information in other government databases.
• These 311,000 voters are allowed to vote, and are being asked to update the elections office with their missing or mixed up information.
With voting in the March primary already underway, some 11,700 voters in Cumberland County need to update their information in the state’s voter registration database.
These 11,700 are among about 311,000 voters statewide who have been flagged for glitches in voter registration data on file with the N.C. Board of Elections, according to elections board announcements.
Letters went out in recent weeks to about 241,000 people, the state elections office said. The letters generated calls and visits by concerned voters to the Cumberland County Board of Elections office, said board chair Linda Devore.
These voters are allowed to vote, she said, but some will be required to cast provisional ballots. The county elections board reviews provisional ballots and decides whether they are counted in election results..
Two Groups of Voters with Glitches
According to Devore and the state elections office, the voters with problems to correct fall into two categories.
First, there are about 70,000 voters in the state’s Voter Registration Repair Project. Federal law requires a voter’s registration information to include either a driver’s license number or the last four digits of the voter’s social security number. It does not have this information for those 70,000 voters.
Second, there are about 241,000 voters with what Devore called a “mismatch” in their records. That means an item in the voter registration record does not precisely match the voter’s information with the state Division of Motor Vehicles or the federal Social Security Administration, she said.
Registration Repair Project
As of Tuesday morning, the state’s Voter Registration Repair Project was asking just over 70,000 voters, including 3,393 in Cumberland County, to provide either their driver’s license number or the last four digits of their social security number.
Since 2004, federal law has required this information in voter registration records, but the state elections board was not diligent in collecting it. Last summer, the state lacked that information for 100,000 voters, The Assembly has reported.
Since then, election officials have contacted voters and updated their records. It resolved the issue for about 30,000 people..
Voters on the Repair Project list will be asked to provide the driver’s license or social security information when they cast a ballot, according to the state Board of Elections. Those on the list will have their ballots classified as provisional, and the county elections board will count the ballots after reviewing that their information was provided.
People can look up online whether they are in the Voter Registration Repair Project and get instructions on what to do if they are on that list. They can update their voter registrations in person or online.
Mismatched Information
The state ran into another problem involving about 241,000 voters, including 8,299 in Cumberland County. There are discrepancies between their names and other information in the state’s registration database compared to their driver’s license information with the state Division of Motor Vehicles and their records in the Social Security Administration’s database, according to the letter sent to voters.
This could be a misspelling, transposed digits in an ID number, a missing hyphen, or similar glitch, Devore said. Sometimes a voter has changed their name, and not all the records have been updated, she said.
These voters are allowed to vote without using provisional ballots. They are being asked when they vote to provide their ID numbers, Devore said. They can also submit their information in person at the county elections board office, via a letter, and online, according to the state.
Senior reporter Paul Woolverton can be reached at pwoolverton@cityviewnc.com.
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