Case Summary
The North Carolina State Conference of the NAACP and two impacted North Carolina voters requested to intervene in a case to protect nearly a quarter of a million voters from the Republican National Committee's and North Carolina Republican Party's baseless attempt to force the State Board of Elections to remove them from the state's voter rolls on the eve of the 2024 presidential election. The action was filed in the Wake County Superior Court on Aug. 23 against the State Board of Elections. The voters and the NAACP are represented by Southern Coalition for Social Justice in partnership with co-counsel from the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, and Mayer Brown.
The Democratic National Committee successfully intervened as a defendant in the case on Aug. 30, and the State Board of Elections removed the case to federal court on Sept. 23.
On Sept. 30, the federal district court for the Eastern District of North Carolina denied SCSJ's request to intervene. On the same day, the State Board of Elections filed a motion to dismiss the case. The Republican National Committee and the North Carolina Republican Party filed an emergency motion to remand to state court on Oct. 1.
On Oct. 29, 2024, a federal appeals court upheld the dismissal of one of the plaintiffs' claims and remanded the remaining claim back to federal court, where robust federal law protections prohibited voter purges on the eve of the election. Click here and here to learn more. Unfortunately, this failed litigation strategy has been picked up and repackaged in the form of election protests by losing candidates in the NC Supreme Court and certain legislative district races. Read more about our ongoing fight against these protests to prevent over 60,000 lawfully cast ballots from being thrown out and the 2024 election results from being overturned here.
In February of 2026, the parties settled this case via a consent judgment. The consent judgment provides for the State Board to collect missing identifying information from voters who registered after this information was required by HAVA under the Registration Repair Project. The settlement also requires all voters the opportunity to cast a provisional ballot, which will count for federal offices regardless of whether the missing identifying information is provided or not.
Why it's Important
The lawsuit would jeopardize eligible voters' right to cast a ballot based on nothing more than a reckless, fatally flawed "analysis" of the voter registration rolls. This litigation falsely claims election results are being swayed by illegal ballots - a conspiracy theory for which there is no evidence.
In addition to being unreasonable and risking the voting rights of hundreds of thousands of North Carolinians, the relief requested by the North Carolina Republican Party and RNC plaintiffs is also prohibited by state and federal law.
