New Program Identifies 34,000 Deceased Individuals On North Carolina Voter Rolls

Yesterday, the North Carolina State Board of Elections announced that it identified approximately 34,000 deceased individuals on the state’s voter rolls following a comprehensive data comparison with the federal Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) database. Earlier this month, the State Board submitted over 7.3 million voter records to the SAVE system as part of its initiative to strengthen the accuracy and integrity of the state’s voter registration lists.

“While we expected to find some cases, this is higher than we anticipated,” said Sam Hayes, executive director of the State Board of Elections. “The benefit of entering into cross-state and federal database checks is that it allows us to uncover issues like this. Our goal is to use every available and legal tool at our disposal to achieve the most accurate voter rolls possible. Now, we must roll up our sleeves and begin the hard work to act of verifying that every person registered to vote in North Carolina is eligible. Our team, along with our state and federal will do what’s necessary to meet this responsibility.”

This is part of the State Board’s ongoing voter rolls maintenance efforts to ensure that only eligible voters are on North Carolina’s voter rolls.

State Auditor Dave Boliek added, “Voter roll maintenance is a core component of election integrity, and it starts with effective management. The State Board of Elections is leading on voter roll cleanup, getting work done quickly and efficiently. This marks another positive step toward ensuring our state has secure elections, where only eligible voters are casting ballots."

This problem was not identified until a Republican majority was appointed to lead the State Board of Elections. During his tenure, former Governor Cooper opposed efforts to make it a nonpartisan board and worked to install faithful Democrat leadership. The first round of reporting from the new program to confirm voter eligibility on North Carolina’s voter rolls highlights a serious failure in election administration during the Cooper administration. If Cooper’s Election Board failed to remove 34,000 deceased voters, how many felons and illegal aliens were allowed to remain on North Carolina’s voter rolls and possibly voted for Cooper and other North Carolina Democrats?