Sorting by

×

GOP Catches Noncitizens Voting?

Advertisements

Only Americans should be voting in U.S. elections.

The North Carolina State Board of Elections (NCSBE) is now under legal action, with a new lawsuit filed by the Republican National Committee (RNC) alleging that the board has left the door open for non-citizens to vote in the crucial swing state.

The lawsuit, filed last week in Wake County, accuses the NCSBE and its members—including Alan Hirsch, Jeff Carmon, Siobhan Millen, Stacy Eggers IV, and Kevin Lewis—of neglecting to enforce identification requirements that verify citizenship. The RNC, joined by the North Carolina Republican Party, claims that the board’s failure to mandate proper ID checks for approximately 225,000 voters breaches the Help America Vote Act (HAVA) and risks undermining election integrity by allowing non-citizens to participate.

North Carolina is setting the stage for its election season early, with ballots scheduled to be mailed to eligible voters starting September 6. The RNC’s Chairman, Michael Whatley, criticized the NCSBE for what he described as a repeated failure to safeguard the voter rolls from non-citizens, thus fueling public distrust in the electoral process. Whatley emphasized that only American citizens should determine the outcome of American elections and vowed to hold the NCSBE accountable for what he called its inexcusable lapses in following the law.

Jason Simmons, Chairman of the North Carolina GOP, echoed this sentiment, asserting that the board’s persistent issues with maintaining accurate voter rolls warrant legal intervention. He argued that the board’s failure to collect necessary identification information from voters undermines the rule of law and is long overdue for corrective action.

Historically, the NCSBE utilized a voter registration form that did not comply with HAVA’s requirement for identification details such as a driver’s license number or the last four digits of a Social Security number. Although the form has since been updated to meet legal standards, the complaint states that around 225,000 individuals registered without providing the necessary information. The lawsuit alleges that the board has not taken adequate steps to address this issue, such as reaching out to these voters to collect the required details.

Advertisements

The NCSBE has responded by arguing that the lawsuit seeks an impractical remedy. They point out that federal law prohibits removing voters within 90 days of a federal election, which makes the lawsuit’s timing problematic. Furthermore, the board contends that the lawsuit overstates the issues with voter registrations and highlights that federal and state laws allow for alternative verification methods, including the presentation of photo ID at the time of voting.

This lawsuit marks the second legal action taken by the RNC and the NCGOP against the NCSBE in recent weeks. Earlier, they sued the board for allegedly failing to use jury questionnaire responses to identify and remove non-citizens from the voter rolls, despite the enactment of SB747, which mandates such cross-checks.

Additionally, the RNC and NCGOP are reacting to a broader issue highlighted by a recent report indicating approximately 325,000 unauthorized immigrants residing in North Carolina out of a total 501,000 foreign-born non-citizens. Despite state efforts to cross-check voter rolls against this data, the NCSBE has faced criticism for not fully enforcing the new law.

In another development, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. has also taken legal action against the NCSBE for refusing his request to be removed from the ballot. Although Kennedy has withdrawn from the race and endorsed former President Trump, his name remains on the ballot due to the advanced stage of ballot printing, a situation mirrored in other battleground states like Michigan and Wisconsin.

This legal flurry underscores the intense scrutiny and contentious debates surrounding election integrity and voter registration practices in North Carolina, a state poised to play a pivotal role in the upcoming elections.