Civil Rights Groups Challenge RNC’s Voter Purge Request

DURHAM, N.C. (Sept. 5, 2024) — The North Carolina State Conference of the NAACP and an impacted North Carolina voter are requesting to intervene in a case to protect nearly a quarter of a million voters from the Republican National Committee’s and North Carolina Republican Party’s baseless attempt to force the State Board of Elections to remove them from the state’s voter rolls on the eve of the 2024 presidential election.

Southern Coalition for Social Justice (SCSJ), the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, and Mayer Brown filed a motion to intervene Wednesday on behalf of individual voter Sailor Jones and the NC NAACP in response to the action filed by the North Carolina Republican Party and RNC in state court Aug. 23. The lawsuit would jeopardize eligible voters’ right to cast a ballot on the basis of nothing more than a reckless, fatally flawed “analysis” of the voter rolls that targets their registrations and ballots.

In addition to being unreasonable and risking the voting rights of hundreds of thousands of North Carolinians, the relief requested by the North Carolina Republican Party and RNC plaintiffs is also prohibited by a federal law, the National Voter Registration Act. That law recognizes that systematic voter registration removals too close to an election risks disenfranchising eligible voters, and thus puts a strict limitation on what removals can happen within this period.

Click here to read the filing.

“For decades I’ve been able to vote for candidates of my choice in North Carolina. But now I am one of hundreds of thousands of eligible North Carolina voters who extremists want to deny their freedom to cast a ballot just days before voting begins in our state,” said Sailor Jones, the individual voter in this case and Associate Director of Common Cause North Carolina. “This desperate effort to remove me and so many other North Carolinians from the voter rolls demands that we be able to make our voices heard in the courts so that we can once again make our voices heard at the ballot box. If these partisans using their national anti-voter playbook want to purge voters from our state’s voter rolls without a fight, they’ve come to the wrong place.”

“The NC NAACP is participating in this voting suit just as we continuously fight against voter suppression, and this case is no different,” said Deborah Maxwell, President of the NC NAACP. “Marginalized voters throughout this state have been consistently targeted through the exploitation of our elections. We stand behind the words of our mission statement to advance the political rights of Black and Brown voters, and we refuse to allow eligible voters to be disenfranchised, which is what the North Carolina Republican Party’s and RNC’s actions threaten.”

The North Carolina Republican Party and RNC complaint is founded on the unsupported assertion that the voter registrations of 225,000 people are invalid and subject to cancellation because there is no driver’s license number or social security number on their submitted voter registration forms. Like other recent cases filed in North Carolina and throughout the United States, this litigation falsely claims election results are being swayed by illegal ballots — a conspiracy theory for which there is no evidence.

“[But] the notion that these voters are ‘unlawfully’ registered to vote and must be purged is patently false,” the motion states. “The exclusion of this information from individual’s voter registration forms is largely due to a simple fact – until December 2023, North Carolina’s voter registration forms made this information optional rather than mandatory.”

The filing points out there a number of reasons eligible North Carolina voters may not have this information in their voter registration record.

“Plaintiffs are attacking the rights of eligible voters based on a gross misreading of fact and law   mixed with unfounded and dangerous political conspiracies,” said Hilary Harris Klein, Senior Counsel for Voting Rights at SCSJ. “Not only would their requested relief disenfranchise hundreds of thousands of innocent voters, it would violate state and federal law. This last-minute, desperate action undermines the very integrity of our elections and shows a disturbing willingness to sacrifice the rights of voters for political gain.”

“This lawsuit, filed on the eve of the General Election, requests an unprecedented remedy—the removal of 225,000 lawfully registered voters. Through no fault of their own, our clients, both the members of the organization and the individual, were among the list of voters the Plaintiffs identified for cancellation,” said Jennifer Nwachukwu, Senior Counsel with the Voting Rights Project at the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law. “The right to vote is precious. Therefore, our clients seek to intervene and protect this fundamental right.”

“The NAACP is all-too familiar with last ditch efforts to curtail access to the ballot box. Make no mistake – any attempts at disenfranchisement are steeped in racism, and pose a direct threat to Black voters,” said Derrick Johnson, President and CEO of the NAACP “We won’t stand for this. Our National office is proud to continue supporting our units on the ground, providing the resources necessary to ensure democracy works, for everybody.”

Individuals in North Carolina who have any questions about voting can call the NC Election Protection Hotline at (888) OUR-VOTE  to get voting help from a trained volunteer. Individuals outside of North Carolina can call the national Election Protection Hotline at (866) OUR-VOTE.

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Southern Coalition for Social Justice, founded in 2007, partners with communities of color and economically disadvantaged communities in the South to defend and advance their political, social, and economic rights through the combination of legal advocacy, research, organizing, and communications. Learn more at southerncoalition.org and follow our work on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.

The Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization, formed in 1963 at the request of President John F. Kennedy to mobilize the nation’s leading lawyers as agents for change in the Civil Rights Movement. Today, the Lawyers’ Committee uses legal advocacy to achieve racial justice, fighting inside and outside the courts to ensure that Black people and other people of color have the voice, opportunity, and power to make the promises of our democracy real. The Lawyers’ Committee implements its mission and objectives by marshaling the pro bono resources of the bar for litigation, public policy, advocacy and other forms of service by lawyers to the cause of civil rights.

As the first major law firm to develop and implement a pro bono strategic plan, Mayer Brown has long deployed its considerable resources to offer access to the justice system and confront systemic problems around the world where it can have a major impact. To that end, in 2020 the firm launched Project Equity to combat systemic racism and promote racial equity. Visit: https://www.mayerbrown.com.

The NAACP advocates, agitates, and litigates for the civil rights due to Black America. Our legacy is built on the foundation of grassroots activism by the biggest civil rights pioneers of the 20th century and is sustained by 21st century activists. From classrooms and courtrooms to city halls and Congress, our network of members across the country works to secure the social and political power that will end race-based discrimination. That work is rooted in racial equity, civic engagement, and supportive policies and institutions for all marginalized people. We are committed to a world without racism where Black people enjoy equitable opportunities in thriving communities.