Republicans want the courts to kick 225,000 voters off the North Carolina rolls by the end of next week.
The North Carolina Republican Part
Republicans want the courts to kick 225,000 voters off the North Carolina rolls by the end of next week.
The North Carolina Republican Party and the Republican National Committee said in a lawsuit filed Monday in Wake County that the State Board of Elections failed to act when resident Carol Snow complained about violations of a federal law called the Help America Vote Act. Snow said the state had used registration forms that failed to require a driver’s license number or the last four digits of a Social Security number.
Republicans and far-right groups are seeking voter purges in states around the country, including the swing states of Arizona and Pennsylvania.
In an email, state Board of Elections spokesman Pat Gannon said the lawsuit asks the impossible. Federal law prohibits removing voters so close to the election, he said.
“Despite being aware of their alleged claims months ago, the plaintiffs have waited until two weeks before the start of voting to seek a court-ordered program to remove thousands of existing registered voters. Federal law itself prevents such removal programs if they take place after the 90th day before a federal election, which was August 7. So, the lawsuit is asking for a rapid-fire voter removal program that violates federal law.”
This is the second lawsuit Republicans have filed against the state Board of Elections in less than a week.
In a statement issued Tuesday morning, state House Democratic Leader Robert Reives blasted the lawsuit as part of an ongoing GOP strategy to use “intimidation, chaos and even outright disenfranchisement” to limit voting rights.