Attorneys for Action NC, Democracy North Carolina, the North Carolina A. Philip Randolph Institute (APRI), and several North Carolina residents sent a pre-litigation notice letter today to Kim Strach, Executive Director of the North Carolina State Board of Elections (NCSBE), as well as Secretary of Transportation Anthony Tata and Commissioner of Motor Vehicles Kelly Thomas, alleging that the North Carolina Division of Motor Vehicles (“DMV”) is failing to meet its voter registration obligations.
The National Voter Registration Act of 1993 (NVRA), commonly known as “Motor Voter,” requires the DMV to provide voter registration services whenever an individual applies for, renews, or changes their address on a driver’s license or state-issued identification card. DMVs are then required to transmit this information to the appropriate election official within 10 days, or 5 days if a voter registers or changes their information within 5 days of the close of registration.
Today’s letter, sent on behalf of the individuals and voting rights groups by attorneys from Dēmos, Project Vote, and the Southern Coalition for Social Justice, cites clear evidence that the DMV is violating its legal requirement to provide voter registration services and transmit registration information to election officials.
This letter comes after the same organizations notified North Carolina that it was in violation of the provisions of the NVRA requiring the State to provide public assistance clients with a meaningful opportunity to register to vote. The letter provides North Carolina with official notice that its DMVs are failing to comply with the NVRA, starting a 90-day timeline for the State to come into compliance or face litigation.
According to today’s letter, in the 2014 General Election, numerous individuals who thought they had registered to vote at the DMV were forced to cast provisional ballots because their names were not on the voter registration rolls. For instance, in Mecklenburg County, out of nearly 880 provisional ballots cast, 157 (nearly 18%) were cast by individuals who said they had registered at the DMV.
Information provided in response to records requests reveal that in more than half of North Carolina’s 100 counties, voters who cast provisional ballots in the 2014 General Election because their names did not appear on the rolls had, in fact, registered to vote through the DMV.
“If an individual registered with the DMV, they should be able to enter the voting site with confidence that they will be able to cast a regular ballot and have their vote counted,” said Melvin Montford, President of the North Carolina APRI. “It is our hope that given the universality of this problem, all actors will come to the table committed to identifying and implementing policies and procedures that will help protect the fundamental right to vote.”
CLICK HERE to read the letter (PDF).
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