The North Carolina elections settlement most people are asking about is actually two related agreements that resolved federal lawsuits over nearly 100,000 voter registrations missing required identification data. The first, entered as a consent order by Chief U.S. District Judge Richard E. Myers II on September 8, 2025, resolved a Department of Justice suit against the North Carolina State Board of Elections. The second, filed February 16, 2026, resolved a parallel case brought by the Republican National Committee and the North Carolina Republican Party against the same board, with the Democratic National Committee also at the table. Both settlements let the affected voters stay on the rolls and set up a “Registration Repair Project” to collect the missing information.
What the DOJ Settlement Did
The DOJ sued the State Board on May 27, 2025, alleging the state had violated the Help America Vote Act by using a registration form that did not require a driver’s license number or the last four digits of a Social Security number. The DOJ estimated at least 100,000 voters on the rolls lacked that information.1U.S. Department of Justice. Court Enters Consent Order Requiring North Carolina to Fix Inaccurate Voter List
Rather than fight it out at trial, the parties filed a consent agreement on September 3, 2025, and Judge Myers signed it five days later.2North Carolina State Board of Elections. Judge Approves Settlement in USDOJ Lawsuit About Voter Registrations The deal formalized a plan the bipartisan State Board had already unanimously approved on June 24, 2025.
The core terms:
- No voter would be removed from the rolls because of the project.
- Voters with missing information would cast provisional ballots. Their votes in federal races count automatically. For state and local contests, the ballot counts only if the voter supplies a driver’s license number, the last four digits of a Social Security number, or a valid HAVA-compliant photo ID by noon on the third business day after Election Day.3Surry County Board of Elections. Registration Repair Project Details
- County boards must contact affected voters by phone or email to collect the data. The State Board sent an initial mailing in summer 2025 and a second letter to non-respondents by December 15, 2025.4NC Newsline. The DOJ and NC Elections Board Reach a Settlement in the Voter Registration Lawsuit
- The board must file progress reports with the court and the DOJ through at least 2027.
State Board Executive Director Sam Hayes, who had started in the role on May 15, 2025, said when the suit was filed that “the failure to collect the information required by HAVA has been well documented.”5ABC11. NC State Board of Elections Faces Lawsuit by US Department of Justice Citing HAVA Violation By the time the consent order was signed, he said the repair list had already shrunk by 22 percent in under three months.
What the RNC-DNC Settlement Did
A separate lawsuit, filed in August 2024 by the RNC and the North Carolina Republican Party, had alleged that roughly 225,000 voters had been added to the rolls without HAVA-compliant identification. On February 16, 2026, the RNC, the DNC, and the State Board filed a settlement in federal court.
Under the deal, the RNC dropped its push to purge those 225,000 voters. The State Board agreed to keep running the Registration Repair Project launched under the DOJ consent order and to reject future voter registration applications that fail to include the required identification information.6Raleigh News & Observer. DNC, RNC Settlement Brings Closure to Ongoing Voter ID Dispute in North Carolina7Port City Daily. DNC, RNC Settlement Brings Closure to Ongoing Voter ID Dispute in North Carolina
Both parties claimed a win. DNC Chair Ken Martin called it a “blow to the Republicans’ scheme to disenfranchise voters.” RNC Chairman Joe Gruters called it a “win for election integrity” and said the State Board had “failed to meet basic safeguards.” Hayes said the board “welcomes the resolution” and praised the “collaborative efforts of all parties.”8Courthouse News Service. Republicans, Democrats Settle North Carolina Voter Eligibility Case
Why Two Different Numbers?
The 225,000 figure in the RNC case and the roughly 100,000 figure in the DOJ case describe the same underlying problem counted two ways. The State Board’s own breakdown identified about 98,000 voters who had never provided compliant identification and another 97,000 who had satisfied HAVA through alternative means but whose driver’s license or Social Security numbers were missing from state records because of data-entry failures or validation errors. The RNC lawsuit swept in both groups. The DOJ’s enforcement focused on the first.9North Carolina State Board of Elections. State Board Unanimously Approves Plan to Collect Missing Identification Numbers From Certain Voters
The gaps accumulated over years. Some voters were never asked for the information because of the state’s form. Others submitted it, but the data was lost or never entered into the statewide database.
What This Means If You Are an Affected Voter
If your registration is on the repair list, you are still registered and you can still vote. You should expect to receive a phone call, email, or letter from your county board asking for a driver’s license number or the last four digits of your Social Security number. Providing it resolves the problem and moves you off the list.
If you have not supplied the information by the time you reach the polls, you will cast a provisional ballot. Your federal-race votes (president, U.S. Senate, U.S. House) will count automatically. Your votes in state and local races will count only if you supply a driver’s license number, the last four digits of a Social Security number, or a valid HAVA-compliant photo ID by noon on the third business day after Election Day.3Surry County Board of Elections. Registration Repair Project Details
The Objections From Civil Rights Groups
The DOJ settlement was finalized over the objections of a coalition that tried to join the case. On June 17, 2025, the NAACP North Carolina State Conference, the League of Women Voters of North Carolina, and eight individual voters filed a motion to intervene, represented by the Southern Coalition for Social Justice, Forward Justice, and the Brennan Center for Justice.10League of Women Voters. Voters, Civil Rights Groups Seek to Intervene in NC Voting Case Brought by DOJ
The groups called the settlement “unfair and unlawful,” arguing it forced voters to re-submit information the state had either never requested or had lost. The NAACP warned the terms would “hit Black voters and marginalized communities the hardest.” The League of Women Voters criticized the deal as having been “reached behind closed doors” without input from the people affected.11Brennan Center for Justice. NC Voters, Civil Rights Groups Warn DOJ Settlement Will Burden Eligible Voters
The court never ruled on that motion before the settlement was entered. Later, on January 12, 2026, Judge Myers denied a renewed motion to intervene filed by the DNC and a motion for reconsideration by the North Carolina Alliance for Retired Americans. Myers reasoned that the settlement was narrowly limited to HAVA compliance for federal elections, that the provisional ballot procedure explicitly protected voters from removal, and that concerns about the release of private voter data were “speculative and premature.”12Carolina Journal. Judge Rejects DNC, Elias Client Intervention in NC Voting Case
Where Implementation Stands
By late April 2026, the Registration Repair Project had cut the number of flagged incomplete records from 103,329 on July 17, 2025, to 66,658 on April 29, 2026, resolving roughly 36,000 registrations. That is a 35 percent reduction in under a year.13Carolina Journal. NC Registration Repair Project Has Resolved 36,000 Voter Registrations Judge Myers requires the State Board to file annual progress reports, and the board’s reporting obligation to the DOJ runs through at least 2027.4NC Newsline. The DOJ and NC Elections Board Reach a Settlement in the Voter Registration Lawsuit
If you are unsure whether your own registration is affected, your county board of elections can confirm it and tell you how to supply the missing identification before your next trip to the polls.