BY BRIAN MURPHY
September 05, 2018 12:05 PM


WASHINGTON
Immigration authorities want North Carolina elections officials to turn over nearly a decade’s worth of voting records by the end of the month.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of North Carolina subpoenaed the state records Friday. The State Board of Elections and Ethics Enforcement says subpoenas also went to the 44 counties in the eastern district. A meeting notice from the board says the subpoena came at the request of Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Among the state records from Jan. 1, 2010 through Aug. 30, 2018 that were requested: any and all voter registration applications, federal write-in absentee ballots, federal post card applications, early voting application forms, provisional voting forms, absentee ballot request forms, all “admission or denial of non-citizen return forms,” and all voter registration cancellation or revocation forms.

North Carolina has nearly 7 million registered voters, according to the state board.

Wake County received one of the subpoenas Friday. Documents requested from the county are: “Any and all poll books, e-poll books, voting records, and/or voter authorization documents, and executed official ballots (including absentee official ballots), that were submitted to, filed by, received by, and/or maintained by the Wake County Board of Elections from August 30, 2013 through August 30, 2018.”

Gary Sims, the director of Wake County’s board of elections, said his staff has not begun to gather the data requested nor has it responded to the subpoena. The state and counties must appear in court with the documents in Wilmington on Sept. 25 at 8 a.m.

“We’re going to see what information we receive from the state board meeting this Friday,” Sims said.

The state board plans to meet Friday at 10 a.m.

The state board is “deeply concerned” by the request, it said in an email sent to the board of elections in each of the 44 counties.

“We are deeply concerned by the administrative drain on county boards of elections in order to comply with the extensive subpoenas immediately prior to a federal election, including the necessary reproduction of millions of documents (all ballots, etc.). The subpoenas faxed to county boards are the most exhaustive on record,” wrote Josh Lawson, general counsel for the state board.

“In our view, compliance with the subpoena as-written will materially affect the ability of county administrators to perform time-critical tasks ahead of absentee voting and early voting.”

In August, 19 people were charged with voting illegally because they weren’t U.S. citizens, The News & Observer reported. The people hailed from countries across the globe.

A federal grand jury in Wilmington handed up the indictments, which were announced by Robert J. Higdon Jr., U.S. attorney for the eastern district.

The district includes Raleigh, Elizabeth City, Fayetteville, Greenville, New Bern and Wilmington.

https://www.newsobserver.com/news/po...217846725.html