DOJ Sues North Carolina State Board of Elections Over Voter Registration Gaps

In late May 2025, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) filed a federal lawsuit against the North Carolina State Board of Elections (NCSBE), alleging violations of the Help America Vote Act (HAVA). The issue centers on voter registration forms that failed to consistently collect either a driver’s license number or the last four digits of a Social Security number—information required by federal law to verify voter identity.

According to the DOJ, this omission may affect more than 200,000 voter registrations statewide, including in Harnett County. The lawsuit asks the courts to compel the NCSBE to identify impacted voters and take corrective action within 30 days. While the registration form was updated in early 2024, the State Board declined to retroactively address the gap—prompting the DOJ’s legal action.

The NCSBE has acknowledged the suit and stated that it is working toward full compliance with federal election law.

This issue has wide-reaching implications not only for election integrity but also for voter access. Voters in Harnett County and across North Carolina deserve a system that both protects the vote and ensures no eligible voter is wrongly flagged or disenfranchised.

So what's the issue?

North Carolina didn’t always enforce this rule—since at least 2004, according to the DOJ. They updated their registration form in January 2024 to fix it, but they didn’t go back and correct the incomplete records of those who registered over the last 20 years.

That’s where the lawsuit comes in. The DOJ is saying: “Hey, the law requires you to collect this info. You didn’t. Now fix it."

 

Why now?

The timing is not accidental. Here are a few key political undercurrents:

New Republican majority on the Board of Elections: A recent change in state law shifted appointment powers from the Governor (a Democrat) to the State Auditor (a Republican), flipping control of the board.

Executive Order: In March 2025, the Trump administration signed a sweeping order on "election integrity," encouraging aggressive federal oversight of state voting systems.

2024 NC Supreme Court race drama: A Republican candidate lost by 734 votes and contested ballots tied to voters missing ID info—those votes were ultimately counted, but the controversy added fuel to this fire.

In short: the lawsuit plays into the national push for stricter voter verification policies, but it’s doing so under the banner of an old federal law that, up until now, wasn’t strictly enforced in NC.

What does it really mean?

This could go in a few directions:

Innocuous fix: The state contacts voters and gets the missing ID info.

Disenfranchisement risk: If the fix isn’t handled carefully, it could lead to purges of the voter rolls or create hurdles for eligible voters who don’t have immediate access to those documents.

Political pressure tool: Some see this as part of a broader strategy to raise doubt about the voter rolls and preemptively challenge close races in 2026 or 2028.

 

What does this mean for Harnett County voters?

  • If you registered to vote in North Carolina between 2004 and early 2024, it’s possible your record may be missing required ID information.
  • You can verify your registration details using ncvoter.org.
  • This lawsuit does not currently affect your eligibility to vote—but may lead to updates in how records are verified going forward.