Make sure you’re registered to vote and didn’t get erased in the purge. Credit: Facebook
Election Day is closing in fast. In fact, it’s just right around the corner. Do you know if you’re registered to vote?
For registering in North Carolina, the requirements are: be a citizen of the United States, hold residence within both the state and the county you live in for at least 30 days before the election, be at least 18 years old by the time Election Day comes and that no felony sentence is being served currently, including any period of probation, post-release supervision, or parole.
If you haven’t voted in the last two federal level general elections, it’s important to note that from the start of 2023 through August 2024, county boards of elections in North Carolina removed more than 747,000 “ineligible registration” records from the state’s voter rolls. That’s an average of more than 1,200 voter records removed from the voter list every single day during those 20 months.
While that does raise questions of voter suppression, officials are insistent the county boards follow careful policies to ensure that what they deem as only ineligible records are removed, not those of eligible voters. Also keep in mind newly eligible voters are constantly being added to the registration rolls in our growing state. Currently, North Carolina has nearly 7.7 million registered voters.
Registrants can be removed from the rolls for many reasons, including:
● They moved, either to a different county or away from North Carolina.
● They spent two federal general elections in inactive status and didn’t respond to mailings from their county board of elections attempting to confirm their eligibility.
● They died.
● They were convicted of a felony and are serving a sentence, including probation, post-release supervision or parole.
● They had a duplicate registration.
●They requested to be removed.
●They were the subject of a successful voter challenge.
● They are not a U.S. Citizen.
Registering during early voting
If you missed the October 7 deadline, don’t fret. There is yet another alternative. You can register in person during early voting. The in-person early voting period for the 2024 general election began Thursday, Oct. 17, and ends Saturday, Nov. 2. For times and locations, visit the NCSBE website here, and make sure you take along proper identification when you set out to take care of business!
