On October 27, 2016, a federal judge granted preliminary relief requiring North Carolina election officials to take actions to protect eligible citizens who were improperly left off the voter rolls after attempting to register to vote through state motor vehicle offices. In the decision, U.S. District Court Judge Loretta Biggs found that the plaintiffs in a lawsuit against state officials in charge of North Carolina’s Division of Motor Vehicles (DMV), Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), and State Board of Elections (SBOE) were likely to succeed on their legal claims when the case goes to trial next spring.
Voting rights groups Action NC, Democracy North Carolina, the A. Philip Randolph Institute, and three North Carolina voters, sued the state in December 2015 after evidence showed that many North Carolina citizens who attempt to register to vote through DMV are not being added to the voter rolls. The suit also alleges that DHHS is failing to give low-income North Carolinians the voter registration services required by federal law.