The United States Department of Justice has officially taken legal action against the North Carolina State Board of Elections for failing to follow federal election law, exposing what could be one of the largest voter registration scandals in recent history.
According to the complaint, over 200,000 individuals may be listed in North Carolina’s voter rolls without proper identification or legal registration, violating the Help America Vote Act (HAVA) — a federal law designed to ensure clean, accurate, and secure voter rolls in all 50 states.
This legal firestorm comes on the heels of President Trump’s March executive order aimed at preserving the integrity of America’s elections.
That order, Executive Order 14248, directed federal agencies to investigate and enforce laws guarding against illegal voting, fraud, and administrative failure.
The DOJ’s 19-page complaint names the entire North Carolina State Board of Elections — including board members Francis X. De Luca, Jeff Carmon, Stacy Eggers IV, Siobhan O’Duffy Millen, and Robert Rucho — as well as Executive Director Sam Hayes, for refusing to enforce basic ID verification for voters.
The lawsuit alleges the state knowingly used a voter registration form that made critical ID fields optional — a direct violation of federal law. Voters were allowed to register without a valid driver’s license, without the last four digits of a Social Security number, and without any unique identifier — all mandatory under HAVA.
Even worse, internal admissions from board officials during a November 2023 hearing reveal they knew about the problem and chose not to fix it, opting instead to “revamp the form later.” In other words — they let potentially ineligible voters flood the rolls before the 2024 election.
“Accurate voter registration rolls are critical to ensure that elections in North Carolina are conducted fairly, accurately, and without fraud,” said Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division.
“The Department of Justice will not hesitate to file suit against jurisdictions that maintain inaccurate voter registration rolls in violation of federal voting laws.”
Read the full lawsuit below:
