Special to IFN

RALEIGH — The N.C. State Board of Elections will soon check the citizenship of all registered voters in North Carolina against federal databases to identify and remove any non-U.S. citizens from the voter rolls. The board approved new rules at its meeting on Thursday for a process that must be followed before a voter is removed.

Voters’ names, dates of birth, and the last four digits of Social Security numbers will be run through the federal Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) database, which will provide information on any possible noncitizens. The State Board recently entered into a Memorandum of Agreement with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services for this purpose.

“This is another way that we will continue to improve the accuracy of our voter rolls and make sure only eligible voters can cast ballots in this state,” said Sam Hayes, executive director of the State Board of Elections. “As noncitizens are removed from the voter list, necessary precautions will be taken to ensure that no eligible voters are affected.”

When any voters are identified by SAVE as potential noncitizens, elections officials will take several steps designed to ensure that only non-U.S. citizens are removed from the voter rolls. These include:

♦ Working with SAVE to confirm that no other records available to SAVE show the registrant is a U.S. citizen.

♦ Checking the voter’s registration records and other state records and databases to determine whether that voter has ever provided proof of U.S. citizenship to a government official.

♦ If no records available to the State Board show the voter has provided proof of U.S. citizenship, the voter will be notified and given the opportunity to correct or update their citizenship information before they can be removed from the voter rolls. The State Board administrative rules adopted Thursday establish procedures to guide county boards of elections in carrying out this process. The proposed rules require that the voter receive notice and an opportunity to be heard, including the opportunity to obtain and provide documentation of their citizenship, before being removed. The rules approved by the State Board on Thursday now go to the Rules Review Commission for review and final approval before they become effective.