RALEIGH, N.C. (CN) - The Republican National Committee and Democratic National Committee have reached a settlement with the North Carolina Board of Elections over a 2024 voter eligibility lawsuit that would have impacted 225,000 North Carolina voters.
The RNC filed suit in August 2024, asking that 225,000 voters who registered to vote using a faulty registration form have their eligibility checked before their vote was counted. They wanted the registrants to be removed from the voter rolls, or be required to cast a provisional ballot in the 2024 general election.
The voters registered using a form that didn't clearly require voters to fill out their driver's license number or the last four digits of their Social Security number, identifying information needed to confirm their eligibility. The state elections board accepted over 225,000 forms before replacing it, which could have allowed noncitizens to register, the Republicans argued. The Democratic National Committee, which intervened in the case, lauded the settlement as a "key win" Monday.
"We have been fighting like hell to protect the sacred right to vote - and we will never back down," DNC Chair Ken Martin said in a statement Monday. "This latest victory is a win for Americans and yet another blow to the Republicans' scheme to disenfranchise voters ahead of the midterm elections."
The crux of the settlement relies on the state's Registration Repair Program, which launched in July 2025 in response to a lawsuit from the Trump administration over the state's supposed voting roll discrepancies. The state is attempting to contact and update the information of voters who are missing qualifying information in the state's voter roll system. The program has also led to the settlement of the federal government's suit against the state.
The voters impacted by the RNC's suit have already been mailed two notices that they need to update their information. The program, which began by contacting over 100,000 voters, still has over 70,000 voters that need to update their information in order to cast a regular ballot.
In the proposed settlement - which still has to be approved by a federal judge - the parties agreed that the state's board of elections cannot accept new voter registration forms that lack federally required information such as voters' driver's license info or their last four Social Security digits.
The state will continue to seek information from voters who are missing data in the voter roll, but cannot refuse to count the disputed ballots because of the missing data. The voters, who will vote provisionally in person, will be asked to provide identifying information while voting. Their ballots must be counted for federal races, but only for local elections if their information is verified. The information is in addition to the state's photo ID requirement.
The case ping-ponged between state and federal court before going to the Fourth Circuit, which determined the Republicans were asserting a claim under the Help America Vote Act, landing the case in federal court despite the RNC initially filing suit in Raleigh.
The state's election processes gained national attention after the 2024 election when a Republican candidate for the state Supreme Court filed countless legal challenges to his loss, claiming over 60,000 ballots - including those cast by his opponent's parents - were invalid and should be discarded. The battle dragged on for six months before a federal judge upheld the results of the election and Jefferson Griffin's opponent, Associate Justice Allison Riggs, was sworn into office.
Representatives for the state board of elections and the Republican National Committee did not reply to a request for comment before publication.
Source: Courthouse News Service
