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Press release/statement
North Carolina’s Missing Voters: SCSJ, Dēmos Detail Gap in Voter Participation
At least 1.5 million North Carolinians, nearly one in five eligible voters, do not participate in elections.
DURHAM, N.C. - Southern Coalition for Social Justice (SCSJ) and Dēmos, a national nonprofit public policy organization, released “North Carolina’s Missing Voters,” a new report detailing how and why many North Carolinians are not participating in the state’s democratic process.
The report released Wednesday found more than 1.5 million North Carolinians are eligible to vote but aren’t doing so.
This group of missing voters, nearly 20% of the state’s estimated 8 million eligible voters, is more likely to be young, Black, or Latino, according to the data analysis — an indication of how barriers to the ballot disproportionately silence and harm communities of color.
North Carolina has experienced a rapid decline in voting access in recent years, the most abrupt drop in ease of voting in the nation over the last four years.
Structural barriers have long been shown to limit access and suppress the voting power of Black North Carolinians and other communities of color.
Structural barriers have long been shown to limit access and suppress the voting power of Black North Carolinians and other communities of color. Today, June 25, also marks 12 years since the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in Shelby County v. Holder (2013), which eroded the Voting Rights Act’s preclearance protections for voters of color and ushered in an onslaught of voting restrictions in states like North Carolina with long histories of racial discrimination.
These barriers include:
- Discriminatory voter photo ID requirements;
- Lack of automatic voter registration and same day registration on Election Day;
- Unjust and confusing felony disenfranchisement laws;
- Burdensome vote-by-mail and absentee voting options; and
- Inadequate language access and disability access to voting processes.
“The real election integrity issue in our state is that North Carolina makes it too difficult for some people to exercise their fundamental right to vote,” said Hilary Harris Klein, Senior Counsel for Voting Rights at SCSJ. “We are at a crisis point when we are missing the viewpoints and perspectives of 1.5 million people.”
The report recommends several changes to encourage North Carolina’s missing voters to participate in elections, including:
- Adequate funding and resources for state and county election boards;
- Voter registration programs at higher education institutions and civic engagement efforts at high schools;
- Automatic voter registration (AVR) when eligible voters interact with agencies like the DMV (with opt-out options);
- Same-day voter registration on Election Day and more robust online voter registration;
- Improvements to voter registration list maintenance practices;
- Automatic restoration of voting rights following completions of felony sentences; and
- Enhanced access for voters with disabilities or those with limited English fluency.
When the voices of 1.5 million voters are 'missing’ from North Carolina elections, lawmakers must take steps to ensure everyone can fully access the ballot.
"Our vote is one of the most powerful tools we have to shape our communities,” said Phi Nguyen, Director of Democracy at Dēmos. "However, as our report demonstrates, a large swath of voters in North Carolina, disproportionately young and Black or Latino, are not being heard at the ballot box. When the voices of 1.5 million voters are 'missing’ from North Carolina elections, lawmakers must take steps to ensure everyone can fully access the ballot."
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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 Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn.
Dēmos is a non-profit public policy organization working to build a just, inclusive, multiracial democracy and economy. We work hand in hand to build power with and for Black and brown communities, forging strategic alliances with grassroots and state-based organizations.
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