North Carolina Identifies 34,000 Deceased Individuals on Voter Rolls

The North Carolina State Board of Elections (NCSBE) has discovered approximately 34,000 deceased individuals remaining on the state’s voter rolls following a comprehensive data comparison with a federal database, revealing maintenance gaps in the state’s voter registration system.

Earlier this month, the NCSBE submitted more than 7.3 million voter records to the federal Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) database as part of an initiative to strengthen the accuracy and integrity of the state’s voter registration lists. Officials emphasized that the presence of deceased individuals on voter rolls does not necessarily indicate fraudulent votes were cast in previous elections.

“While we expected to find some cases, this is higher than we anticipated,” said Sam Hayes, executive director of the State Board of Elections, in a statement. “The benefit of entering into cross-state and federal database checks is that it allows us to uncover issues like this. Our goal is to use every available and legal tool at our disposal to achieve the most accurate voter rolls possible.”

The discovery comes amid heightened scrutiny of voter rolls nationwide. The NCSBE voted along party lines earlier this month to verify the citizenship status of voters after facing lawsuits from the Trump administration, which alleged failure to maintain accurate voter lists.

Federal law requires states to remove ineligible voters, including deceased individuals, from their rolls. North Carolina already conducts biennial list maintenance, which removed approximately 500,000 ineligible voters in 2025, according to Dr. Andy Jackson, Director of the Civitas Center for Public Integrity at the John Locke Foundation.

However, Jackson noted that under the current system, it can take between eight to ten years for deceased voters to be removed from the rolls. He praised the SAVE database collaboration, calling it “crucial” for improving North Carolina’s list maintenance procedures.

The NCSBE has confirmed it will work with county election boards to remove the identified deceased individuals from voter rolls. This process is part of broader election integrity efforts that have gained momentum across the country.

The current Trump administration has significantly increased oversight and investigations into election integrity matters. One key initiative has been updating the SAVE program last year to enhance its effectiveness in identifying ineligible voters.

In a sweeping nationwide effort, the administration has also launched a campaign to obtain full statewide voter registration lists and list-maintenance records from all states. The Justice Department has sued at least 30 states and the District of Columbia that failed to comply with these requests, according to the Associated Press.

The Republican National Committee’s official election integrity account on X (formerly Twitter) stated that the findings in North Carolina exemplify why the Trump administration is “forcing states to clean up their voter rolls.”

Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose, who is currently running for Ohio Auditor of State, commented on the situation, saying: “Turns out checking state voter rolls against federal records actually helps keep them more accurate. Who knew?”

The North Carolina case highlights ongoing tensions between federal oversight and state management of voter rolls, as well as the technical challenges of maintaining accurate voter registration systems. As the 2026 election cycle approaches, election administrators across the country face increasing pressure to ensure voter rolls are accurate, while also maintaining accessibility for eligible voters.

The NCSBE’s initiative demonstrates how cross-referencing with federal databases can identify discrepancies that might otherwise go unnoticed in state-level maintenance processes, potentially serving as a model for other states facing similar challenges.