FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: May 4, 2026
Media Contact:
Melissa Boughton | melissa@scsj.org | 830-481-6901
Organizations Urge NC Board of Elections to Continue Longstanding Policy of Printing Voter Forms for Community Drives
RALEIGH, N.C. (May 4, 2026) — Thirty non-partisan voting rights and civic engagement organizations, including Southern Coalition for Social Justice (SCSJ), have demanded the North Carolina State Board of Elections immediately reverse its recent decision to stop providing printed voter registration forms to community groups conducting voter registration drives, something they’ve done since 1993.
In a letter to Executive Director Sam Hayes, organizations put the State Board on notice that its new policy violates the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA), a federal law that requires states to make voter registration forms “available for distribution” to “private entities,” with special “emphasis” on organized registration drives. According to the State Board, community drives were responsible for over 217,000 registrations in 2024 alone.
The State Board announced in late February it would no longer print forms for community-based voter registration drives, directing people instead to the forms available on its website. The letter points out that a website link to a registration form that must be printed and mailed falls short of the legal requirement to make forms available for use in registration drives and threatens access to the very voters those drives are built to reach. At least three counties — Catawba, Lenoir, and Wayne — have no printed forms available and no plans to print more. At least 15 other counties have significantly cut back availability, according to the letter.
“Organizations have already been forced to divert resources crucial to other aspects of their work and missions to printing forms that should otherwise be made available,” the letter states. “If the shortage is exacerbated, we expect it will in some cases prevent organizations from holding registration drives at all. Unless the State Board reverses course, the impact will be sorely felt ahead of the 2026 general election and beyond.”
Organizations signed on to the letter are calling on the State Board to resume making printed forms available to community organizations and to issue uniform guidance to county boards of elections across the state. The signatory organizations also propose the State Board expand online voter registration beyond what is offered through the DMV to reduce the need for as many printed forms and address any cost concerns. This approach would come with additional cost-saving benefits, such as reducing staff time and resources in processing and correcting printed forms and modernizing North Carolina’s election infrastructure.
“While Board staff has characterized this to be a ‘temporary tightening’ of voter registration drive practices, we believe that the State Board’s failure to provide forms for distribution (if continued for any period) will still prevent many eligible individuals from registering to vote in advance of the 2026 general election, and therefore requires immediate attention,” the letter states.
The organizations signed on to the letter are: You Can Vote, SCSJ, NAACP North Carolina State Conference, Association of Mexicans in North Carolina (AMEXCAN), El Pueblo, Pro-Choice North Carolina, Democracy North Carolina, Student Action with Farmworkers, Organizing Against Racism Cumberland County, League of Women Voters of North Carolina, Action4Equity, North Carolina Black Alliance, NC Climate Justice Collective, Common Cause North Carolina, NC Congress of Latino Organizations (NCCLO), MomsRising, Fayetteville Police Accountability Community Taskforce, Forward Justice, North Carolina Voter Project, Disability Rights NC, Fair Elections Center, Action NC, Planned Parenthood South Atlantic, North Carolina Council of Churches, North Carolina For The People, Casa Azul de Wilson, North Carolina Asian Americans Together, Valores, North Carolina A. Philip Randolph Institute, and New North Carolina Project.
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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.