The North Carolina State Board of Elections says it’s identified roughly 34,000 deceased individuals on the state’s voter rolls after running a large-scale comparison with a federal database.
The discovery came after the State Board submitted 7,397,734 voter records on April 17, 2026, to the federal Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) system as part of an effort to improve the accuracy of North Carolina’s voter registration list.
State officials say that the primary purpose of the comparison was to verify the citizenship status of registered voters and ensure that only eligible individuals are on the rolls. However, they noted that the process is also turning up other discrepancies, including duplicate records, mismatched information and, in this case, individuals who are deceased.
“While we expected to find some cases, this is higher than we anticipated,” said State Board Executive Director Sam Hayes.
“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,” he added.
Hayes also said the agency now faces the task of verifying the findings and making appropriate updates.
Election officials emphasized that maintaining voter rolls is a routine function required under state and federal law. They also noted that the presence of dead people on the rolls doesn’t necessarily mean that any illegal votes were cast in their names, but it does highlight the need for regular updates and coordination among agencies.
The State Board says it will follow established procedures to confirm the records and will work with county boards of elections to remove deceased individuals where appropriate. That process includes additional cross-checks with other state and federal databases, as well as providing due process before any voter is removed.
The SAVE database comparison relies on voters’ names, dates of birth and the last four digits of Social Security numbers, which are submitted to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. That agency then cross-checks the information with the Social Security Administration.
For deaths that occur within North Carolina, the State Board already receives weekly updates from the NC Department of Health and Human Services, with removals handled at the county level.
Officials say that the new federal comparison will help identify people who may have registered in North Carolina but later moved to another state and died there.
State election officials say this effort is part of an ongoing push to ensure that North Carolina’s voter rolls are as accurate and up to date as possible
