NCEIT’s H958 PCS Bill Summary

NCEIT’s H958 PCS Bill Summary 

For legislators

Multiple sections of state statutes are addresses relating to contributions by foreign nationals, overseas voters, voter

registration, including the application and verification of information, qualifications to vote and use of HAVA documents

The Challenge

•   § 163-278.6 Definitions of foreign nationals. The definition in the PCS has exceptions which should be deleted to remove any possibility of foreign influence in our elections.

•   § 163‑258.5 Overseas voter’s registration address.  Addresses should be limited to those on the voter’s passport or

driver’s license which all overseas voters will have.

•   § 163‑82.1 General principles of voter registration. In addition to completing a voter registration application and being

qualified to vote, an applicant must have their identity and address verified. HAVA requires identity verification.

•   § 163‑82.4 Contents of application form.  With the exception of race, ethnicity, gender and phone, all information must

be required, not requested. 

Full legal name, date of birth, driver’s license and social security numbers, if issued, so the information can be verified by

checking state and federal databases as required by HAVA. Proof of citizenship is needed for new registrants as defined in

Executive Order 14248.

•  § 163-82.7 Verification of qualifications and address of applicant; denial or approval of application requires determining if the applicant is verified to vote at their address ”within a reasonable time after receiving the application.”  Identity also needs to be verified as required by HAVA 52 USC 21083 (a)(1)(A) (5) Verification of voter registration information. and the “reasonable time” needs to be defined in Rules, so it does not last until the time of the election.

•  § 163‑55. Qualifications to vote.  The section needs to be consistent with the NC Constitution regarding the citizenship

requirement.  Also suggested are adding proof of citizenship, as required in Executive Order 14248 and excluding those

those who have been declared incompetent by a court from qualifying.

§ 163-166.12.  Requirements for certain voters who register by mail. Since voters also register by other means, those

were added.  More importantly the use of HAVA documents was limited to verifying address for those voting for the first

time consistent with HAVA 52 USC 21083 (b), not verifying identity.  

• § 163-82.12 Promulgation of guidelines relating to computerized voter registrations. This section requires guidelines to be promulgated to include provisions for:

- “enabling the statewide system to determine whether the voter identification information provided by the individual is valid”, 

- “enabling the statewide system to interact electronically with the DMV system to validate identity information”, - “enabling the DMV to provide real-time interface for the validation of the drivers license number and last four digits of the social security number” and

- “notifying voter-registration applicants whose drivers license or last four digits of the social security number does not result in a validation, attempting to resolve the discrepancy, initiating investigations…”” 

Neither the NC Voter Registration List Maintenance  manual August 21, 2024  or the NC Administrative Code - Elections includes a process for validation of drivers license or last four of the social security numbers, if issued, as required by HAVA.  Rules are needed to define procedures for when driver’s license and social security numbers cannot be verified.  See the document below that raises questions whether nonsensical names on the voter rolls could have been verified before being registered.   

Solutions - There should be no opportunity for foreign influence in our elections.  The address of overseas voters must be verified from available documents.  Refinement of the voter registration application, registration process, qualifications of voters and use of HAVA documents for address verification is suggested to improve the quality of the voter registration list. (See these links for examples of Questionable Entries and Duplicate Registrations on the voter registration list.)

Contact: North Carolina Election Integrity Team (NCEIT),

Jim Womack, (919) 770-4783, james.k.womack@gmail.com,

Joanne Empie, (919) 819-1981, joanne.empie@gmail.com,