North Carolina election officials will send mailers to about 200,000 voters asking them to provide information missing from their state registration records, seeking to address a Republican concern raised during a protracted legal fight over a state Supreme Court seat and a recent U.S. Justice Department lawsuit .
The North Carolina State Board of Elections voted unanimously Tuesday to begin contacting voters whose records lack a driver's license number or the last four digits of their Social Security number. Last month, the Justice Department sued state election officials, alleging the board had violated federal law by failing to collect the identifying information.
The lawsuit was noteworthy because it was filed just weeks after Republicans wrested control of the state elections board away from the state's Democratic governor after years of failed attempts and gave the power of board appointments to the state auditor, a Republican. The law was passed late last year, before Republicans lost their supermajority in the Legislature, which they used to override the governor's veto.
The Justice Department sought to force the state board to create a prompt method to obtain the identifying information.
Sam Hayes, the board's new executive director, told board members on Tuesday that the department had "tentatively signed off" on the plan, which involves sending up to three mailers to voters that will include a self-addressed, postage-prepaid return envelope with a form for collecting the information.
