Democrats celebrate as 73,000 North Carolina voters without proper ID stay on rolls

North Carolina's elections board came to an agreement with the Republican and Democratic parties on Monday to give 73,000 voters more time to update their voter registrations before they are removed from voter rolls.

The settlement concludes an extended legal battle that rose after the Republican National Committee and North Carolina GOP sued state election officials in 2024, claiming that roughly 250,000 voters had been improperly registered. The voters in question did not provide the last four digits of their Social Security numbers, driver’s license numbers or an attestation that they had neither on their registrations.

Republicans had requested that the voters be removed from rolls and their votes in the 2024 elections be thrown out. The Democratic National Committee hailed the settlement as a win on Monday, accusing the GOP of voter suppression.

"This latest victory is a win for Americans and yet another blow to the Republicans’ scheme to disenfranchise voters ahead of the midterm elections," DNC chair Ken Martin said in a statement after the settlement.

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The North Carolina State Board of Elections admitted that roughly 100,000 voters lacked proper identification as of last summer. As of December, that number had shrunk to roughly 73,000.

Monday's agreement allows those voters to stay on the voter rolls, with their information to be updated when they cast a ballot. North Carolina law requires voters to show ID when voting.

The settlement comes amid a federal battle over voter ID requirements, with the GOP pushing the Safeguarding American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) America Act, which passed the House last week and is expected to face a vote in the Senate. The bill would impose a blanket requirement for voters to provide proof of citizenship before casting a ballot.

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Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., vowed Sunday that Senate Democrats will block the effort.

"We will not let it pass in the Senate," Schumer told CNN’s Jake Tapper. "We are fighting it tooth and nail. It's an outrageous proposal that is, you know, that shows the sort of political bias of the MAGA right. They don't want poor people to vote. They don't want people of color to vote because they often don't vote for them."

Schumer’s comments came after Tapper pressed him on his opposition, noting that polling shows roughly 83% of Americans support some form of voter identification. That figure comes from a Pew Research poll published last year that found 71% of Democratic voters surveyed supported presenting an ID to vote.

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In addition to ID requirements, the GOP-backed bill would establish a system for state election officials to share information with federal authorities to verify voter rolls. It would also allow the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to pursue immigration cases if noncitizens are found listed as eligible voters.

Democrats have attempted to paint the bill as racist.

"What they are proposing in this so-called SAVE Act is like Jim Crow 2.0," Schumer said. "They make it so hard to get any kind of voter ID that more than 20 million legitimate people, mainly poorer people and people of color, will not be able to vote under this law."

Fox News' Alex Miller contributed to this report.