(The Center Square) – Punch lines of dead people voting in North Carolina met a measure of demise with the State Board of Elections saying it had removed 34,000 registrations for which the individual had died.
Using the federal Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements database, known also as SAVE, the board submitted nearly 7.4 million records on April 17 in a routine list maintenance protocol.
“While we expected to find some cases, this is higher than we anticipated,” said Sam Hayes, executive director of the State Board of Elections. “The benefit of entering into cross-state and federal database checks is that it allows us to uncover issues like this. Our goal is to use every available and legal tool at our disposal to achieve the most accurate voter rolls possible.
“Now, we must roll up our sleeves and begin the hard work to act of verifying that every person registered to vote in North Carolina is eligible. Our team, along with our state and federal will do what’s necessary to meet this responsibility.”
Republicans’ majorities in the General Assembly moved oversight and appointments of the election board to the state auditor in 2024. First-term Republican Dave Boliek said the integrity of elections begins with effective management.
“The State Board of Elections is leading on voter roll cleanup, getting work done quickly and efficiently,” Boliek said. “This marks another positive step toward ensuring our state has secure elections, where only eligible voters are casting ballots.”
Dead people on voter rolls is not evidencing a vote from them has been cast in any election, contrary to the jokes and sometimes sincere accusations of such. The state board does say it underscores “the importance of regular updates and strong interagency coordination.”
The state board, through county boards weekly, gets information from the Department of Health and Human Services on voters who die. The comparison used in the SAVE database search includes the voter’s name, date of birth and last four digits of Social Security number being sent to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. The agency crosschecks with the Social Security Administration.
If a voter was registered in North Carolina, then moved or died in another state, this process helps discovery.
