Lawsuit Filed Against N.C. County for Failing to Maintain Voter Rolls

A legal watchdog group has filed a federal lawsuit against a county in North Carolina, claiming that it has more registered voters than living citizens.

The Public Interest Legal Foundation, an Indiana-based legal group that specializes in civil litigation, filed the complaint Tuesday in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina. The group filed the lawsuit on behalf of the Voter Integrity Project of North Carolina, an election integrity watchdog group, against the Wake County Board of Elections for its failure to maintain the county’s voter rolls.

Wake County, which encompasses Raleigh, North Carolina, boasts a population of just over 1 million people, making it the most populous county in the state. The groups stated that publicly available data from the U.S. Census Bureau and data from the federal Election Assistance Commission show that the county’s voter rolls are larger than the number of citizens living in the county.

The voter integrity group sent statutory notice letters to the county on June 3, warning they were in potential violation of federal voter registration laws and asking to review election records. They did not receive a response from the county, prompting the lawsuit.

“Defendant has violated and continue[s] to violate Section 8 by failing to conduct reasonable voter list maintenance for elections for federal office and by failing to produce records and data related to those efforts, as required by Section 8,” the lawsuit states. “Plaintiff seeks injunctive relief commanding Defendant to permit inspections of election records.

“Plaintiff also seeks a declaratory judgment and injunctive relief requiring Defendant to conduct and execute reasonable voter list maintenance programs in compliance with federal law to ensure that only eligible voters are registered to vote in Wake County.”

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