NORTH CAROLINA — A settlement has been reached in the 2024 lawsuit between the Republican National Committee, the State Board of Elections and the Democratic National Committee after more than a year-and-a-half of legal disputes.
“This settlement is a victory for voting rights and democracy. Democrats led the legal fight to thwart Republicans’ attempts to rip away access to the ballot box,” DNC Vice Chair for Civic Engagement and Voter Participation Reyna Walters-Morgan said in a press release. “We will never stop fighting for the rights of voters here in North Carolina and across the country.”
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The suit originally began in August 2024 due to concerns from the RNC that the North Carolina State Board of Elections allowed 225,000 registrants to vote in the 2024 elections despite not providing what it considered to be proper required identification information. North Carolina law requires a voter ID and the 225,000 did not provide a driver’s license number or the last four digits of their Social Security number. Thus the RNC thought there were incomplete registrations in the state’s voter rolls, which could sway the 2024 presidential election.
The suit also claimed the NCSBE did not comply with the Help America Vote Act of 2002. The act was signed into law to address issues of outdated voter technology, standardize voter registration requirements and expand voter access with provisional ballots.
The settlement was submitted to state and federal courts by the DNC and RNC to be signed by a judge on Monday, Feb. 16. In the agreement, the parties conceded to drop the suit if the State Board of Elections continued to implement its Registration Repair Program. The plan first was put into action in July 2025 after a legal settlement between the board and the Department of Justice, to include the county board of elections contacting North Carolina voters in their jurisdiction, who have incomplete registrations to supply missing information.
Chief U.S. District Judge Richard E. Myers II, an appointee of President Donald Trump, denied the original suit as viable under federal jurisdiction and under the Help America Vote Act in October 2024, but sent it down to state courts.
It remained dormant until the recent settlement, though RNC brought similar concerns of voter eligibility since then, in separate but similar lawsuits. In particular, another legal battle ensued after Democratic candidate Allison Riggs won over Republican Jefferson Griffin in the 2024 state Supreme Court race. In the six months that followed, Griffin attempted to have 65,000 ballots thrown out, claiming the votes were ineligible.
That suit was later denied by Myers.
In yet another lawsuit, NCSBE was sued by President Trump’s Department of Justice in May 2025 also for incomplete voter registration. That same month the North Carolina state board of elections gained a Republican majority for the first time in almost a decade, and the two parties were able to reach an agreement. This lawsuit resulted in starting the Registration Repair Program.
DNC Chair Ken Martin said in a press release about the RNC settlement that the Democratic Party is prepared to defend American voting rights:
“While the RNC has waged an all-out assault on voters in North Carolina, we have been fighting like hell to protect the sacred right to vote — and we will never back down. This latest victory is a win for Americans and yet another blow to the Republicans’ scheme to disenfranchise voters ahead of the midterm elections.”
While the state continues to implement its Registration Repair Program, voters who do not provide the correct identification information, such as driver’s license numbers, will have their ballots tossed out and not counted during elections.
The NCSBE Executive Director Sam Hayes provided the following statement to Port City Daily:
“The North Carolina State Board of Elections welcomes the resolution of this settlement and appreciates the collaborative efforts of all parties to reach an agreement that strengthens confidence in our voter registration system. This agreement reflects the success of the Registration Repair Project, which has been used diligently to update voter records, contact affected voters, and ensure our state’s rolls remain both accurate and accessible. Our priority has always been to maintain secure, reliable voter registration records while protecting every eligible voter’s opportunity to participate.”
There are 901 people with incomplete voter registrations in Brunswick County, 1,578 in New Hanover County, and 449 in Pender County, according to the repair tracker — found here.
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