Raleigh, NC –  A conservative non-profit has filed a federal lawsuit to request a restraining order against the North Carolina State Board of Elections over the inclusion of votes cast in the 2016 election by same-day registrants.

The suit, filed by the Civitas Institute, contends that counting same-day registrants ballots in the certified results before the voter registrations can be verified violates state law.

The suit asks for the certified results to be postponed until all same-day voter registrations can be verified.

As previously reported by American Lens, hundreds of students in the Triangle area were registered to a single address which turned out not to be a valid mailing address or residence.

We found that a look at same-day student registrations revealed that 240 students at Duke University were living at “1 Duke University Road, Durham.”  The location itself turned out to be a gravel parking lot.

These results were replicated at North Carolina Central University in Durham.

These findings call into question why college students are being funneled into a single address which does not follow state law.

It begs the question, why are students arguably being given a special dispensation such as this? Consolidation of such address, without question, makes tracking down the real residency status of these students nearly impossible.

North Carolina General Statute states, in terms of voter registration eligibility, that the definition of “residence” at the time of registration is supposed to be where one sleeps.

The challenge from the Civitas Institute comes on the heels of these findings and on the day when the State Board of Elections has convened a public meeting on the matter of 50 election protest filings.

The Civitas lawsuit has been filed with the Eastern District federal court. Accompanying the suit is a complaint filed with the North Carolina State Board of Elections.

• Read the Civitas Federal Lawsuit filing.
• Read the Civitas Complaint to the NC Board of Elections.