On Aug. 31, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina subpoenaed voter records in 44 North Carolina counties on behalf of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
The subpoena requested standard voter registration application forms, federal write-in absentee ballots, one stop (early voting) application forms, provisional voting forms and N.C. absentee ballot request forms, as well as any admission or denial of non-citizen return form or record of voter registration cancellation.
The subpoena requested the above documents from 2010 through 2018 to be submitted in court on Sept. 25, 2018.
The counties subpoenaed included Beaufort, Bertie, Bladen, Brunswick, Camden, Carteret, Chowan, Columbus, Craven, Cumberland, Currituck, Dare, Duplin, Edgecombe, Franklin, Gates, Granville, Greene, Halifax, Harnett, Hertford, Hyde, Johnston, Jones, Lenoir, Martin, Nash, New Hanover, Northampton, Onslow, Pamlico, Pasquotank, Pender, Perquimans, Pitt, Robeson, Sampson, Tyrrell, Vance, Wake, Warren, Washington, Wayne and Wilson.
Andy Penry, chairperson of the N.C. State Board of Elections, spoke about the subpoenas in a conference call on Friday.
The district attorney's office sent a fax to the state board notifying it of the grand jury subpoena, Penry said. He said the county boards had also told the state board they received the subpoenas.
Penry spoke about the state’s intended response to the subpoenas.
“At this time, we are not sure if we have actually been served with (the subpoenas) in the manner required by the rules,” Penry said. “There are documents that relate to absentee voters. And the subpoena, which was apparently issued on behalf of ICE, seeks documents that would disclose very confidential information about the voters.”
While ICE investigates matters of undocumented immigration, the Federal Elections Commission is charged with investigating matters of voter fraud. Penry said he noticed this discrepancy in the conference call.
