Voter Purging, Ballot Challenges, and a Supreme Court Showdown: What Davidson County Voters Need to Know
If you’re a voter in Davidson County and haven’t checked your registration status lately, here’s your friendly reminder: do it now. With a recent wave of voter purges and a high-profile legal challenge that flagged over 60,000 ballots across North Carolina—including more than 1,300 right here in Davidson County—some residents are asking a fair question: Am I still on the rolls? And more importantly: Did my vote count?
Davidson’s Quiet Purge
According to the Voter Purge Project, 1,266 Davidson County voters were removed from the rolls, representing 0.47% of the county’s 271,070 registered voters. That’s well below North Carolina’s statewide average of about 0.8%, but it’s not nothing.
Purge reasons typically include death, relocation, duplicate registrations, felony convictions, or long-term inactivity—especially if voters didn’t respond to address confirmation mailings over two federal election cycles. While the process is legal, critics argue it often lacks transparency and disproportionately impacts the most vulnerable voters.
But even legal voters found themselves on the wrong side of the ballot box in one of the most dramatic post-election fights North Carolina has seen in years.
The Griffin Challenge
After narrowly losing his bid for a seat on the North Carolina Supreme Court in 2024, Judge Jefferson Griffin, a Republican, filed a sweeping protest. He lost to Democrat Allison Riggs by just 734 votes—close enough for two recounts, both of which upheld Riggs' win.
Griffin then filed a formal protest questioning the legitimacy of more than 60,000 ballots statewide. His argument? That absentee and early ballots cast by voters with “incomplete” registration records—those missing a driver’s license number or the last four digits of a Social Security number—should be tossed out.
He also challenged ballots from military and overseas voters who voted without attaching a photo ID and a handful of so-called “never-resident” voters—people who registered in NC but had never lived in the state.
The Griffin List Lands in Davidson County
Griffin’s legal protest became a political powder keg when he published a public database—dubbed the Griffin List—naming more than 60,000 voters, including about 1,300 from Davidson County, whose ballots he wanted thrown out.
Local residents, including some longtime voters, were stunned to learn they had been flagged—often due to small clerical issues or missing ID numbers in their registration file. Davidson County Board of Elections Director Andrew Richards confirmed that impacted voters were notified by mail and that the county board ultimately dismissed the protest.
Courts Step In
At the state level, the North Carolina State Board of Elections also rejected Griffin’s claims. But the protest continued through the court system, landing in the hands of the North Carolina Court of Appeals, which initially ruled that flagged voters must “cure” their records within 15 days or risk losing their vote.
That ruling was short-lived.
On April 11, 2025, the North Carolina Supreme Court reversed most of the Court of Appeals’ decision, ruling that voters missing ID numbers had properly verified their identity by providing photo ID at the polls. The court allowed only a narrow exception: about 5,500 overseas and military ballots, along with a few hundred ballots from “never-resident” voters, would require additional documentation within 30 days.
A federal court ultimately ordered certification of the election on May 5, 2025, officially sealing Riggs’ win. Griffin conceded two days later.
The State’s Response: The Registration Repair Project
In the wake of this legal chaos, the North Carolina State Board of Elections quietly launched what it’s calling the Registration Repair Project.
This effort is designed to collect identification numbers—either a driver’s license/DMV ID number or the last four digits of a Social Security number—from voters who currently have no such information on file in the state’s voter registration database.
According to the NCSBE, “These numbers are used to verify that registrants are who they claim to be.” Voters who fail to provide this information may face complications the next time they vote. In many cases, they will be required to cast a provisional ballot and follow up with identification documents for their vote to count.
The project is ongoing, and voters who receive a notice should act promptly.
What It Means for Davidson County Voters
Here in Davidson County, the purge rate might be low, but that doesn’t mean the county is immune from the bigger forces at play. Voter registration maintenance, legal protests, and now state-led registration verification efforts all point to one thing: elections are no longer a one-day affair—they’re a year-round process.
Whether your name was on the Griffin List or your registration simply lacks an ID number, now is the time to double-check your status. Voters can visit ncsbe.gov to confirm their registration, submit ID numbers if needed, and get ahead of any problems before they show up at the polls.
Because in today’s electoral climate, the question isn’t just “Will you vote?”
It’s “Will your vote be counted?”
Quick Links:
Check your registration status: www.ncsbe.gov
If you received a postcard about your registration, follow the instructions or contact your county Board of Elections.
Questions about the Registration Repair Project/Search Purged Voters List? Davidson Local is here to help untangle the fine print.
Because your vote shouldn’t have to survive a lawsuit to count.
