North Carolina removes 747,000 from voter rolls, citing ineligibility

North Carolina’s State Board of Elections has removed 747,000 people from its list of registered voters within the last 20 months, officials announced Thursday in a press release.

The State Board of Elections in the release said the majority of those stripped from the rolls were deemed ineligible to be registered because they had moved within the state and did not register their new address, or because they did not participate in the past two federal elections, prompting an inactive status.

Other reasons for removal included death, felony convictions, out-of-state moves and personal requests for removal, the board said.

North Carolina is one of seven swing states likely to decide the presidential election between Vice President Harris and former President Trump. Only one Democrat this century, former President Obama in 2008, has won the state in a presidential contest, but Harris has been polling close to Trump this cycle.

The state is also home to a tough gubernatorial contest between Republican Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson and Democratic Attorney General Josh Stein.

The purge comes just a few weeks after North Carolina Republicans filed a lawsuit that said the state had failed to act on complaints about ineligible people on voter rolls.

In the GOP lawsuit, a Wake County resident in North Carolina claimed voter registration forms in that county did not include driver’s license and Social Security numbers. 

“By failing to collect certain statutorily required information prior to registering these applicants to vote, Defendants placed the integrity of the state’s elections into jeopardy,” the lawsuit read.

Republicans also filed a lawsuit recently raising concerns after state approved digital IDs issued by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill as a valid form of voter ID. That claim was rejected by a local judge.

The state now has around 7.7 million registered voters. The Hill has reached out to the North Carolina State Board of Elections for comment.