Can you vote in NC if you’ve never lived here? GOP bill would bar ‘never-resident’ voters

A Republican-backed elections bill moving through the General Assembly could change North Carolina’s rules for overseas voting. 

House Bill 958 would permanently bar so-called “never-resident” voters from ever casting a ballot in elections.

Never-resident voters are people who are U.S. citizens, born to North Carolina parents, but who have never lived in the U.S., such as children of military personnel or religious missionaries. The legislature voted years ago, with broad bipartisan support, to let those people vote in state elections. But Republicans have since sought to revoke their ability to vote, at least for state-level elections. 

Federal law under the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act allows eligible U.S. citizens abroad to vote in elections tied to their last U.S. residency. North Carolina previously interpreted that to include some voters who never lived in the state but qualified through a parent’s residency.

The bill could reach the House floor for a vote this week. It would seek to codify a ruling in a recent state court case, Kivett v. North Carolina State Board of Elections, in which a judge ruled those voters are not eligible to vote in state and local elections. North Carolina law requires a direct residency link for participation outside federal contests, the court determined.

Opponents who oppose the bill say it would disenfranchise family members of military personnel in a state with a large population of active duty personnel.    

The legislative effort, part of a wide-ranging elections-law bill, would bar never-resident citizens from voting in state and local elections. The bill also adds new rules for voters, including a requirement to submit photo identification with absentee ballots and tighter limits on acceptable forms of ID for certain categories of overseas voters.

“We want everybody to be able to vote in North Carolina elections that are eligible and allowed to,” Jason Simmons, chair of the North Carolina Republican Party, told WRAL on Monday “But also making sure that we have safeguards on our elections.” The never-resident voter issue gained statewide attention during the 2024 North Carolina Supreme Court race. Republican candidate Jefferson Griffin challenged ballots cast by overseas voters, including never resident voters, as part of his effort to overturn his narrow loss to Justice Allison Riggs. 

The North Carolina State Board of Elections said it did not request the provision targeting never-resident voters but provided technical feedback during drafting. It will follow any enacted law and court rulings, board spokesman Jason Tyson said.

“We see why they would want this,” Tyson said. “But with that said, we will continue to administer elections in accordance with applicable state and federal law and court orders.”

A mother, Kate Sable, who lived in Durham for about five years before moving to Canada, opposes the move. She said the bill would bar her sons from casting ballots because they were born and raised in Toronto. 

“My sons are American citizens in every sense of the word,” she told WRAL. “They pay taxes and they are expected to fulfill the responsibilities of citizenship. Yet they are being told they no longer have a voice in the government that represents them.”