April Sidbury is a North Carolina registered voter whose vote was not counted due to the elimination of same day registration under the new voter suppression law (H.B. 589). Previously, voters were allowed to register and vote at the same time during the early voting period. April did not have a voice in this election despite her best efforts to make sure she was registered.
April is a lifelong North Carolina resident and a mother of four. She previously lived in Brunswick County and voted regularly, including using early voting. She moved from Brunswick County to Wake County about two years ago. After she moved to Wake County, she received an official form asking if she had moved. April thought this form was from a board of elections office and she completed the form indicating that she had moved to Wake County and provided her new Wake County address. April believed she was providing this updated address information to re-register in Wake County. Despite her best efforts, April was not registered in Wake County and only discovered this during early voting.
On November 1, 2014, April went to the Herbert C. Young Community Center in Cary, NC to early vote in Wake County. When she checked in with her name and address, she was sent to another employee who tried to locate her registration information in Wake County. The female employee informed April that she was previously registered in Brunswick County but was removed from their registration list. When April tried to explain that she had filled in and sent out a form with her new Wake County address, she was simply told that she was not registered and could not vote. If same day registration was still in place, April would have been able to correct her voter registration and would have had her vote counted on November 1st. Instead, April was only able to request a provisional ballot but her ballot was not counted.
April felt shock and disappointment that her vote was not counted during this election. She tried to do everything right to make sure her new address was in the system. April lost her voice in this election but did not lose her ability to spread her experience of disenfranchisement. April is sharing her story to show others that H.B. 589 took away her right to vote and how this law negatively affects real people.
Each post in SCSJ’s Votes Not Counted series tells the story of a person qualified to vote before the passage of North Carolina’s Monster Voter Suppression Law, whose ballot was unjustly denied this year. Below is Cherise’s story. If you know another eligible voter whose vote has been denied, please email allison@scsj.org.
