North Carolina election officials have identified approximately 34,000 deceased individuals still listed on the state’s voter rolls following a comprehensive comparison of over seven million voter records with the federal Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) database.

The finding emerged in an April 27 press release from the North Carolina State Board of Elections. On April 17, 2026, the board submitted 7,397,734 voter records to the SAVE system as part of a citizenship verification initiative.

According to the State Board, identifying deceased registrants does not indicate fraudulent voting activity but reveals inaccuracies in the state’s voter list. Sam Hayes, executive director of the State Board of Elections, stated that while the number was higher than anticipated, the process allows for uncovering such issues. The board confirmed it will work with county boards of elections to verify and remove these names through due process. This effort follows a recent vote by the State Board along party lines to initiate citizenship verification after the Trump administration sued over alleged inaccuracies in maintaining voter rolls.