Under the Dome: NC voter rolls see net gains despite removals
Good morning and welcome to today’s Under the Dome newsletter, from Caitlyn Yaede. First up, my colleague Emily Vespa reports on some misinformation regarding North Carolina’s voter rolls.
There are more voters in North Carolina today than in January 2023, despite hundreds of thousands of voters being removed from the rolls.
From the start of 2023 to Friday, which was the voter registration deadline for the upcoming election, North Carolina saw a net gain of over 278,000 registered voters. That led to some questions online about the state’s announcement that it had removed 1,200 registrations from the voter rolls per day, on average.
The state Board of Elections in August announced that counties removed nearly 750,000 ineligible registrations from voter rolls during routine maintenance over a 20-month span. At least one online post, shared in a group discussing election integrity, questioned the veracity of the removal announcement, falsely pointing to the gain as evidence that’s not true.
Election integrity groups in recent years have combed public voter roll data in amateur audits for evidence of fraud. But the data files, which the state board posts weekly, are only a snapshot of voter registrations at that point in time, meaning they “do not have the granularity to capture every single change in voter registrations across the state,” state board spokesperson Patrick Gannon wrote in an email.
“A net gain in registered voters is to be expected in a state with a growing population, especially in a presidential election year when historically registration activity is greatest,” Gannon said.
According to data from the state board:
Seventy percent of the almost 750,000 registrations cut from voter rolls over 20 months were removed in 2023.
Nearly 40% of all removals took place in January 2023 as part of routine list maintenance, which happens in odd-numbered years.
There was a net gain of about 160,000 voters during the 20-month period.
There are over 7.7 million registered voters in North Carolina. People can still register during early voting, which starts Thursday, through same-day registration.
CANDIDATE CHARGED WITH SIGN THEFT RESIGNS AS PARTY CHAIR
A candidate for N.C. House District 78 resigned from his position as county Democratic Party chair, Tammy Grubb reports, after being charged with stealing political signs from the roadside.
Lowell Simon was arrested in Moore County last week and charged with violating a state law prohibiting the removal or theft of campaign signs during an election period. He is currently free with a written promise to appear.
Monique Baker will serve as interim chair of the Moore County Democratic Party.
“While we appreciate the hard work and dedication he has shown to the Democratic Party and the community, the Moore County Democratic Party cannot and will not condone the tampering of political signs or any other illegal activity,” the party said. “Mr. Simon has offered an apology for his actions, as well as his resignation, both of which have been accepted by the MCDP.”
MARK ROBINSON SUES CNN FOR $50 MILLION
Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson announced in a press conference on Tuesday that he is suing CNN for defamation after the publication reported that the candidate for governor made racist and sexually explicit comments on a pornography forum. Kyle Ingram reports that Robinson is filing a $50 million lawsuit against the network.
“This is a high-tech lynching on a candidate who has been targeted from day one by folks who disagree with me politically and want to see me destroyed,” Robinson said at the Raleigh press conference. “We are glad to take these first steps to fight back against what we consider to be one of the greatest examples of political interference in this state’s history.”
WHAT ELSE WE’RE WORKING ON
On Tuesday, Gov. Roy Cooper joined FEMA Administrator Deanna Criswell to say that misinformation is harming communities in Western North Carolina attempting to recover from Helene. This follows the arrest of a man in Rutherford County who authorities say claimed he was going to harm FEMA workers. Misinformation about FEMA and its disaster relief efforts is an ongoing concern. Adam Wagner has more.
School funding and teacher pay — those topics divided state superintendent candidates Michele Morrow and Maurice “Mo” Green at a debate on Monday night. Charlotte Observer education reporter Rebecca Noel has the details.
WHAT ELSE WE’RE LISTENING TO
Leoneda Inge of WUNC’s “Due South” podcast hosted reporter Paul Specht for an episode about misinformation surrounding Hurricane Helene. The WRAL PolitiFact reporter talked through common misconceptions he has seen in the wake of the devastation in Western North Carolina.
VOTER GUIDE
In the latest candidate questionnaires from our 2024 NC Voter Guide, see what candidates for U.S. House District 8 have to say about the issues, and learn more about their biographies.
Both candidates answered our questions:
Today’s newsletter was by Caitlyn Yaede with contributions from Emily Vespa. Check your inbox tomorrow for more #ncpol.
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