North Carolina citizens did everything right to get registered to vote. But the state is failing them.
Today, Project Vote and partners sued the state for failing to provide federally mandated voter registration opportunities at public assistance agencies and motor vehicles agencies, a violation of the National Voter Registration Act.
The NVRA, or “Motor Voter” law, passed in 1993 to increase voting opportunities for eligible citizens by making voter registration accessible at government locations people visit most frequently. The law requires public assistance offices (WIC, TANF, and Medicaid) and motor vehicle offices to provide voter registration services to citizens whenever they apply for or renew benefits, driver’s licenses, or state ID cards, as well as report a change of address to the relevant state agency.
But the state showed a steep decline in the number of voter registration applications originating from public assistance agencies since 2012. DMV offices have also failed to offer required voter registration, and worse, disenfranchised those who thought they were registering through the government agency.
“A significant number of individuals across North Carolina—including our client Sherry Holverson— were forced to vote provisionally in the most recent election, despite having requested to register or update their registration through the North Carolina DMV,” said Catherine M. Flanagan, Senior Counsel for Project Vote in a press release today. “For example, over 150 individuals in Mecklenburg County alone were unable to cast a regular ballot in the 2014 General Election because of apparent DMV errors in processing their voter registrations.”
The state has dealt with noncompliance issues before and, working with voting rights groups in 2006, developed a plan to improve compliance at public assistance agencies until 2011. As today’s complaint states, “[t]his history shows that compliance with the NVRA is achievable and results in a substantial increase in public assistance voter applications. The survey data and voter registration data available today demonstrate that the [state is] no longer in compliance, however, and that injunctive relief to remedy these violations is required.”
Learn more about the lawsuit in today’s press release.