NC election board OKs rules for reviewing voter citizenship challenges

North Carolina election officials on Thursday moved forward with new rules for challenging the eligibility of voters suspected of being noncitizens — a move that comes as the officials prepare to upload voter information data to a national database. 

In the coming days, the Republican-led North Carolina State Board of Elections plans to upload voter information — names, dates of birth and the last four digits of Social Security numbers — through a federal database that can help election officials determine someone’s citizenship status. 

The state elections board on Thursday voted 3-2 along party ines to give preliminary approval to a set of rules for reviewing a voter’s citizenship status if the database flags voters who are potentially ineligible to vote. The rules outline how challenges must be filed, which documents can be accepted as proof of citizenship, and when hearings can take place. The rules need approval from the state’s Rule Review Commission, a panel appointed by legislators, to be officially implemented. 

“This is another way that we will continue to improve the accuracy of our voter rolls and make sure only eligible voters can cast ballots in this state,” Sam Hayes, the board’s executive director, said in a statement. “As noncitizens are removed from the voter list, necessary precautions will be taken to ensure that no eligible voters are affected.”

Democrats on the board argue that the changes are unnecessary. Noncitizens are prohibited from voting under state and federal law, and there is no evidence of widespread voter fraud by noncitizens in North Carolina. 

Democratic board member Jeff Carmon said Thursday that the state is now demanding that certain voters “carry your papers” — a characterization Republicans board members rejected. 

“We're going to make a significant percentage of our population have to jump through hoops because of a very insignificant number that we've dealt with in the past,” Carmon said.

Republican board member Stacey Eggers said the rules were necessary to offer due process to people whose eligibility is under scrutiny.

“A lot of what I have heard is more of the philosophical question of, ‘Should we verify whether voters are citizens?’” Eggers said. “Our obligation is to enforce the rules, and one of the rules is that you have to be a citizen of the United States, among other criteria, in order to be an eligible voter.”

Elections board leaders have been working on the rules for weeks, with the board approving tweaks to the proposal on Thursday. For example, an initial proposal instructed election officials to determine if “presumptive” noncitizens have documentation of citizenship. The board tweaked that language, instructing county boards to consider challenges to “potential” noncitizens.

The board also expanded the number of documents voters are allowed to produce to prove their citizenship, if it is challenged. An initial proposal required voters to prove their citizenship by producing a birth certificate, a passport, or a certificate of citizenship or naturalization issued by the Department of Homeland Security’s United States Citizenship and Immigration Services. The board on Thursday voted to also allow voters to include documentation showing the citizenship of a parent. 

The board also tweaked its proposed administrative procedures. An initial proposal called for election officials to hold a preliminary hearing for voter eligibility challenges within 15 business days of publishing notice of the hearing. The board, seeking to give election officials more flexibility, said Thursday that the hearings would be held at least 10 days after publishing notice of the hearing —- but not later than 20 business days after publishing the hearing notice.

The move comes amid a national push by Republicans to ensure noncitizens don’t participate in federal elections, despite a lack of evidence suggesting widespread voter fraud. President Donald Trump this month signed an executive order to create a nationwide list of verified eligible voters and to restrict mail-in voting, in part to ensure noncitizens don’t cast ballots. Trump’s repeated, and disproven, allegations of election fraud have heightened skepticism over the electoral process. 

Public polling shows that large numbers of voters — especially Republican voters — express mistrust in the validity and security of American elections, especially in years when their preferred candidates don’t win. 

The state elections board last year approved a plan to start citizenship verifications. The state already cross-checks various databases maintained by North Carolina and other states to ensure people who move away or die are removed from the list of registered voters. The board’s Republican members are also trying to secure voters’ full 10-digit Social Security numbers from the Division of Motor Vehicles, where North Carolinians can register to vote. DMV leaders have said they’re reviewing whether the law allows them to share the numbers. 

The Trump administration is also pursuing a change to federal law that could have implications on elections for years to come. 

On the first day of Trump’s second term, the president signed an executive order  that children born to parents who are in the United States illegally or temporarily are not American citizens — even if the children were born in the U.S. The 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution states that “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.”

The U.S. Supreme Court is considering the legality of Trump’s order. During arguments earlier this month, conservative and liberal justices alike cast doubt on the administration’s legal arguments.