North Carolina State The National Board of Elections (NCSBE) is facing another lawsuit, as the Republican National Committee (RNC) has sued the battleground state, accusing it of opening the voting door to non-citizens.
The lawsuit, filed last week in Wake County by the RNC and the North Carolina Republican Party, accuses the NCSBE and its members Alan Hirsch, Jeff Carmon, Siobhan Millen, Stacey Eggers IV and Kevin Lewis of failing to require ID to prove citizenship.
The lawsuit alleges that by violating the Help America Vote Act (HAVA) and not checking the identities of approximately 225,000 voters, the agency is “opening the door to voting for non-citizens.”
North Carolina is the first state in the country to start voting. This battleground state has started sending votes by mail Ballots will be issued to eligible voters on September 6.
“The NCSBE has once again failed in its mandate to keep noncitizens off the voter rolls, fueling distrust and jeopardizing our elections,” RNC Chairman Michael Whatley said in a statement. “We remain committed to the fundamental principle — and common sense law — that only Americans decide American elections. Willfully failing to follow the law just before our nation’s most important election is inexcusable. We will fight every day to ensure that the NCSBE follows the law, cleans up the voter rolls, and protects the vote of North Carolinians.”
RFK Jr. sues North Carolina to remove name from ballot before election
“I Voted” stickers at the Wayne County Public Library polling station in Goldsboro, North Carolina, on Tuesday, March 5, 2024. (Alison Joyce/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
“This state board continues to have problems ensuring that only verified citizens are included on the voter rolls,” said NCGOP Chairman Jason Simmons. “This lawsuit will address their ongoing refusal to collect necessary information from people wishing to participate in North Carolina’s elections. Accountability and fidelity to following the rule of law is long overdue for the most partisan election board in state history.”
The state board previously used a voter registration form that did not include identifying information required by HAVA, such as a driver’s license number or the last four digits of a Social Security number. Election officials acknowledged the form was not HAVA compliant and eventually fixed it, but in the meantime, about 225,000 people registered without providing the information required by HAVA, the complaint states.
Election officials allegedly refused to take corrective action and did not reach out to these voters to collect the necessary information. Instead, what the defendants “offered as a solution is a half-hearted promise that those who were ineligible to register, but were nevertheless allowed to, would naturally filter themselves off the state’s voter rolls when they performed other election-related activities,” the complaint states.
“This inaction misses the mark,” the lawsuit states. “Not only does this ‘solution’ fail to correct ongoing violations of state and federal law or take into account Defendants’ responsibilities under them, but it also leaves North Carolinians wondering how they can trust the security of their elections, especially when those tasked with protecting their rights don’t bother to do what the law requires.”
Donald Trump during a campaign rally at the North Carolina Aviation Museum & Hall of Fame on August 21, 2024 in Asheboro, North Carolina. (PETER ZE/AFP via Getty Images)
It adds, “Worse yet, this ‘solution’ sends a message to millions of eligible and registered voters in North Carolina that their chief elections official will shirk his responsibilities and refuse to verify whether people who vote in the state’s elections are entitled to do so.”
Fox News Digital reached out to NCSBE for comment, but they did not immediately respond.
This is the second suit filed by RNC and NCGOP Within a few weeks, a decision was made to contest the election against the North Carolina Board of Elections.
Last month, Republicans sued the board for allegedly failing to check answers to jury questionnaires so that noncitizens could be identified and removed from the voter rolls, as required by law.
Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris campaigns at the Hendrick Center for Automotive Excellence on August 16, 2024 in Raleigh, North Carolina. (Grant Baldwin/Getty Images)
Last year, the state Legislature passed SB747, a major election integrity law that requires state election officials to investigate whether a person is a noncitizen when he or she claims to be a noncitizen on a jury questionnaire. on the voter listThe RNC and NCGOP allege that despite the law going into effect on July 1, elections officials have not begun enforcing it.
In February, North Carolina’s Office of State Budget and Management reported that about 325,000 “unauthorized” immigrants were living in the state.
That number was out of a total of 501,000 foreign-born noncitizens in North Carolina, according to the complaint in that case.
Click here to get the Fox News app
Last week, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. also sued the North Carolina state board for rejecting his request to remove his name from the state ballot ahead of the November election. Despite the candidate dropping out of the race and endorsing former President Trump, the board decided by a 3-2 vote to keep Kennedy’s name because nearly 2 million ballots had already been printed.
Kennedy was also unable to remove himself from the ballot in two other electoral districts, Michigan and Wisconsin.
