The Charlotte Observer reports here on a controversy surrounding a same-day registration bill in North Carolina. The bill had already been passed by the state house and was slated to be considered by the state senate on June 6, when it was taken off the agenda at the request of State Auditor Les Merritt, a Republican. Merritt claimed to have conducted a “strategic review” that revealed “sensitive information that is relevant to the issue of voter registration” — namely, certain irregularities on the state’s voter registration list. The Director of the State Board of Elections, Democrat Gary Bartlett, subsequently rebutted Merritt’s claims in this strongly worded 10-page letter, which concluded, “it is clear it would have been best for all concerned if your draft recommendations had not been issued until your staff had taken the opportunity to better understand the data it was reviewing and the laws applicable to elections.” Now, the dispute has the attention of Democrats in the legislature and the liberal Facing South blog, which sees a link to the voting fraud controversy surrounding DOJ. According to this report which Rick blogged Friday, DOJ is also investigating N.C. voting rolls.