INSTITUTE INDEX: Is North Carolina suppressing poor people's votes?

By Sue Sturgis / May 15, 2015

A new analysis of voter registration data raises concerns that poor people are being systematically disenfranchised in North Carolina. (Photo of North Carolina voters by Jeffrey L. Cohen via Flickr.)

Percent by which voter registration applications initiated at public assistance agencies in North Carolina have declined since Gov. Pat McCrory (R) took office in 2013: 50

Average annual number of voter registration applications generated at North Carolina public assistance offices between 2007 and 2012: 38,400

Average annual number in the last two years: 16,000

Number in 2014, when there were highly contested elections in the state: 13,340

Percent of McCrory-era food assistance applications that resulted in voter registrations compared to the pre-McCrory baseline of 4.2 percent, suggesting the drop in registrations is not due simply to a decline in people seeking aid: 1.7

Of North Carolina's 100 counties, number that experienced a drop in public assistance-originated voter registrations since McCrory took office: 99

Estimated number of missing voters due to the "McCrory deficit" -- that is, the number of North Carolina citizens who likely would have been registered had the dramatic decline in public assistance registrations not occurred: 39,177

Differential in votes between the winning Republican and losing Democratic U.S. Senate candidates from North Carolina last year: 45,608

According to an on-the-ground investigation, portion of nearly 200 North Carolinians interviewed after visiting public assistance offices who said they were not provided an opportunity to register to vote — a violation of the National Voter Registration Act, which requires that public assistance agencies provide voter registration services: 3/4

Date on which the N.C. NAACP and allied groups submitted a public records request to the McCrory administration in an effort to find out whether the decline in voter registrations from public assistance offices was intentional or not: 5/11/2015

Number of days North Carolina has been given to come into compliance with the National Voter Registration Act or face a lawsuit from voting rights groups: 90

Year in which voting rights attorneys worked cooperatively with North Carolina, then under Democratic control, to improve voter registration practices at public assistance agencies: 2006

After that earlier effort in North Carolina, factor by which the number of individuals registered to vote through public assistance agencies increased: 6

(Click on figure to go to source.)

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