Does Registering To Vote Make That Information Public

FAQ: Voter Registration

Overview

On this page, notice answers to your questions most voter registration applications, updates, list maintenance, and privacy.

Do you need to replace a missing or damaged voter registration card? Please attain out to your county board of elections.

Voter Registration Applications

What is the voter registration deadline?

The regular voter registration deadline in Due north Carolina is 25 days before an election. For details, run into Voter Registration Deadlines.

Practise you need to register to vote or update your existing registration afterward the regular deadline? Eligible individuals may do so ahead of Election Mean solar day during the one-stop early voting period. Encounter Register in Person During Early on Voting.

May I fax or e-mail a voter registration form?

You may fax or email your voter registration application to update your proper name, accost, or party affiliation. Nevertheless, if the application is for a new registration, your county board of elections must receive your original, wet ink signature on your completed registration application, postmarked past the voter registration deadline and received no afterward than xx days before a main or election. Due north.C.One thousand.S. § 163-82.6.

Notation: Eligible individuals who are N.C. Partitioning of Motor Vehicles (NCDMV) customers may submit a voter registration application online. This process does not require a wet ink signature. Find more information at Consummate Your Registration Online Through the DMV.

May I sign a voter registration awarding for someone else?

No. Only the voter may sign their voter registration application. You are not permitted to sign anyone else's voter registration application, fifty-fifty if you lot accept power of attorney for the person.

If I register as an unaffiliated voter, tin I vote in a master election?

Aye. If yous are an unaffiliated voter, you may participate in the primary of any recognized political party that opens its primaries to unaffiliated voters, or y'all may request a nonpartisan ballot. Still, yous must choose only 1 political party's main. As of 2020, unaffiliated voters may choose the Democratic, Libertarian, Republican, or nonpartisan ballot (if available) in a principal election.

Participating in a partisan chief will not impact your condition as an unaffiliated voter. If you request a nonpartisan election, you lot will simply vote for those contests that are nonpartisan (i.e. referenda, etc.).

Are voter registration forms bachelor in other languages?

Voter registration materials and instructions are currently available in English language and Castilian. You lot may download the voter registration application at Voter Tools and Forms.

Updating Your Voter Registration

What if I have moved inside my county?

What if I have moved within a time period shut to an election?

If y'all move during a time close to an election, the following rules utilise:

If you lot moved more than than thirty days before the election, you must update your registration with your new address (or if applicable, register to vote in your new county of residence) no subsequently than 25 days before the election. You may also update your address using same-day registration during the in-person early voting flow.
If you don't update your voter registration by Ballot Twenty-four hour period, you may still vote at your new polling location, as long as your motion is inside the same county. Since your move was unreported, you may be asked to vote a provisional ballot. You can also vote provisionally at your quondam polling place, simply yous may not receive a ballot with all the contests you are eligible to vote in. Y'all tin can also vote at a key transfer precinct; contact your county board of elections for more information virtually this option.
If you lot moved fewer than 30 days before the election, y'all must vote in your prior polling place.

Please be certain to notify the lath of any changes to your mailing address, if dissimilar from your residential address. The lath may demand to contact you past post to inform you of changes to your polling place and/or voting districts.

What about other changes?

If you demand to brand other changes to your voter record (proper noun alter, political party affiliation change, etc.), yous may use a voter registration application. For changes other than political party affiliation, you lot may employ same-day registration at an early voting site. For a master ballot, yous may non modify your political party affiliation at a 1-terminate early voting site. You lot may change your party affiliation during early voting for a general election, simply the alter would non take place until subsequently canvass.

How will I know the change has been made to my tape?

In one case you make changes to your voter registration tape, allow two weeks for the delivery of your new voter registration card. Read the information advisedly and notation whatever changes or mistakes on the bill of fare. A voter registration carte is for your utilize only; you exercise not demand the card to vote. You can also check your information on the Voter Search.

Voter Registration Listing Maintenance and Privacy

If I don't vote, will my voter tape be purged from the voter registration rolls?

Voter registration records are not "purged" simply due to not-voting. Voters are removed from the voter rolls following a biennial list maintenance process mandated by federal and state law. If a county lath of elections has not had any contact with a voter for a menstruation of two federal election cycles, and then the voter will be sent a forwardable address confirmation mailing. The voter volition be required to return the confirmation mailing inside thirty days of the mailing. If the confirmation mailing is not returned by the voter within that time, or the mailing is returned by the U.South. Postal Service as undeliverable, and then the voter's tape will be marked inactive in the voter registration database.

Inactive voters are still registered voters. If an inactive voter presents to vote, the person will be asked to verify their address and update it if necessary. If a county board of elections has no contact (presenting to vote counts equally contact) with the voter for two more than federal ballot cycles, then the voter volition be removed from the county's voter rolls and would need to re-register to vote. N.C.G.S § 163-82.14.

How are ineligible voters removed from the voter registration rolls?

In Due north Carolina, county boards of elections follow a comprehensive list maintenance schedule to remove names of individuals who are no longer eligible to be registered due to death, felony conviction, moving from the county or state, or lack of voter contact.

To learn more than about this procedure, see our press release, County Boards of Elections Begin Regular Voter List Maintenance Processes.

May I keep my voter registration information private?

Pursuant to N.C.Grand.S. § 163-82.x and Chapter 132 of the General Statutes, the State Lath of Elections is required to make most voter information bachelor to the public. All voter registration data is public record except for full or partial social security numbers, dates of birth, commuter license numbers, the identity of the public agency at which the voter registered under Due north.C.Grand.South. § 163-82.20, and the email address of a military-overseas voter. Additionally, your signature may only be viewed by the public and cannot exist copied or traced.

Annotation: Third parties often access and use publicly available voter registration information for various purposes, and the bureau has no authorization to command their use of publicly available information.

Co-ordinate to North.C.G.S. § 163-82.ten(e), a voter'southward address will be kept confidential if a registered voter submits to the county board of elections either 1) a copy of a 50B protective guild; 2) a restraining society; or 3) a current and valid Address Confidentiality Program authorization menu issued according to the provisions of Chapter 15C of the General Statutes, forth with a signed statement that the voter has good reason to believe that the concrete safety of the voter or a member of the voter's family residing with the voter would be jeopardized if the voter's address was open to public inspection. To find out whether y'all are eligible to accept your information withheld from the public under the Accost Confidentiality program, please visit Address Confidentiality | NCDOJ.