Monday Numbers: Who has been removed from NC’s voter rolls?

Every year, North Carolina removes registered voters from its voter rolls as part of a “maintenance” routine required by state and federal laws. The removal is often referred to as “purging,” but North Carolina State Board of Elections spokesman Pat Gannon said the term is “an overused, inaccurate and misleading way to describe maintenance of the voter rolls.”

Below is information from the State Board about its voter list maintenance process in 2017 and 2018, as well as nationwide voter “purge” data from the Brennan Center for Justice.

*Note: “Preclearance” refers to a requirement that was long applied under Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act to states with a history of voter disenfranchisement (including North Carolina) under which they were required to obtain approval from the U.S. Department of Justice before changing their voting laws. The U.S. Supreme Court effectively ended  this requirement in 2013.

17 million – the number of voters removed from rolls nationwide between 2016 and 2018

40 percent – how much higher the median purge rate was over the 2016 to 2018 period in jurisdictions previously subject to preclearance  versus jurisdictions that were not covered by Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act

1.1 million – the number of voters who wouldn’t have been removed from voter rolls between 2016 and 2018 if purge rates in the counties that were covered by Section 5 were the same as the rates in non-Section 5 counties

299,795 – roughly the number of registered voters removed from the North Carolina rolls in 2017

447,721 – the total number of registered voters reviewed as part of the voter maintenance process in 2017

187,834 – the number of those registered voters removed from the North Carolina rolls in 2017 due to their registration becoming inactive after two federal elections (the largest removal category that year)

69,825 – deceased registered voters removed from the North Carolina rolls in 2017

9,150 – the number of registered voters with felony convictions removed from the North Carolina rolls in 2017

94,800 – roughly the number of registered voters removed from the North Carolina rolls in 2018

296,666 – the total number of registered voters reviewed as part of the voter maintenance process in 2018

64,396 – deceased registered voters removed from the North Carolina rolls in 2018 (the largest removal category that year)

8,574 – the number of registered voters with felony convictions removed from the North Carolina rolls in 2018