Advocacy groups sending voter registration mailings to 450,000 N.C. households

Posted on by Mike Fuhrman

Special to Iredell Free News

Raleigh — Two voter advocacy organizations have begun sending mailings to nearly 450,000 North Carolinians to encourage them to register to vote.

The mailings from the Voter Participation Center (VPC) and the Center for Voter Information (CVI) include North Carolina voter registration applications, as well as information for unregistered voters. They were scheduled to start arriving at N.C. households this week.

The State Board of Elections welcomes efforts to engage voters and promote voter participation. The State Board recognizes, however, that many mailings come unsolicited and can be confusing to some recipients, especially those who are already registered to vote in North Carolina.

North Carolina election officials wish to remind voters and prospective voters of the following:

♦ The State Board encourages all voters to routinely check their registration status and details using the State Board’s Voter Search tool.

♦ If you are already registered to vote, you do not need to do anything and may simply discard the mailing.

♦ For information about registering to vote in North Carolina, go to the Registering section at NCSBE.gov. N.C. Division of Motor Vehicles customers can register or update their registration online through the DMV’s website.

♦ The regular voter registration deadline for the November 8 general election is October 14. If you miss this deadline, you may register through same-day registration during the in-person early voting period at any early voting site in your county.

♦ The State Board of Elections and county boards of elections rarely send mass mailings.

♦ If you have questions or concerns about a mailing, please contact the organization responsible for it. Some mailings will include the organization’s contact information, as well as “unsubscribe” information, allowing voters to opt out of future mailings.

According to VPC and CVI, mailings will go to unregistered young people who will be eligible to vote in the upcoming elections for the first time, to voters who have recently moved and have not re-registered or updated their voter registration records, and others who are unregistered in the voting age population.

Election officials encourage recipients with questions about the mailings to contact these groups directly. Voters may contact the groups by phone at 877-255-6750 (VPC) and 866-290-1599 (CVI).