Appeals Court Rules North Carolina Voter Case Is a Federal Matter

The Fourth Circuit ruled that federal court, not state, will interpret North Carolina’s voter registration dispute, as the case hinges on federal election laws.
Appeals Court Rules North Carolina Voter Case Is a Federal Matter
Voters make selections at their voting booths inside an early voting site in Hendersonville, N.C., on Oct. 17, 2024. Melissa Sue Gerrits/Getty Images
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A federal appeals court ruled on Oct. 29 that a Republican effort to challenge 225,000 North Carolina voter registrations will be heard in a federal court, rejecting the GOP’s request to have the case decided under state law.

The Republican National Committee (RNC) and the North Carolina Republican Party had initially filed their lawsuit in North Carolina state court in August. They argued that nearly a quarter of a million voter registrations are invalid because they were submitted on an old form that did not require applicants to provide a driver’s license number or the last four digits of a Social Security number.