State Board of Elections mailed 5,400 Buncombe voters letters to update information

About 5,400 Buncombe County voters were mailed letters last week by the North Carolina State Board of Elections on behalf of the Buncombe County Board of Elections asking recipients to confirm or update identification details to make poll-worker verification easier.

State election officials framed the mailing as routine maintenance. “While these voters’ registrations complied with the law and are complete, the State Board letters encourage the voters to update their voter records by providing their driver’s license or social security numbers or by ensuring the name on their voter registration matches other official government records. This is to help make the state’s voter rolls more accurate and does not affect the voters’ eligibility,” the State Board wrote in materials shared with county officials.

The letters specifically encourage recipients to provide a driver’s license number or Social Security number or to ensure the name on their registration matches other government records. County materials and state guidance list common causes that flag a record for follow-up: a difference in spelling of a name, a missing hyphen, an apostrophe or space, use of a prior legal name such as a maiden name, or incorrect or missing date of birth, driver’s license number or Social Security number.

Buncombe officials emphasized that the contact does not cancel registrations and that responding is voluntary. County communications reiterate that if a voter does not respond to the mailing, poll workers will ask them to update identification information at their polling place when they vote.

The state is expanding the validation program in 2026. Beginning this year, the North Carolina State Board of Elections will send mailings to voters with unvalidated identification information in January and August of each year as part of a continued effort to keep voter rolls current.

Separately, local reporting on the blog Avlwatchdog raised questions about recent voter communications. The blog said some readers received a postcard titled “Note: New Voting Location” assigning them to a different polling site and that a Buncombe County Board of Elections staff person was “very pleasant and helpful, but she did not know why or by whom I have been assigned the new location.” The Avlwatchdog piece added that the staff “did kindly suggest how voting earlier would not require my voting at the new location” and noted that “Some of this, as far as voting locations at least, relates to Tropical Storm Helene, the gift that just never stops giving to our community.” The Avlwatchdog columnist also expressed personal concern about other issues at polling places, writing, “Regarding the readers’ concern about the fine print and the possibility of discouraging voting, that is a concern I’d share, although I’m more concerned about ICE agents literally showing up at polling places this year.” Buncombe County Board of Elections Director Corinne Duncan responded to the blog query via the county communications department, and county spokesperson Lillian Govus said the county has worked “to think outside the box to connect with voters, demystify processes, and make sure voters know how, when, and where to vote.” Govus cited a Spanish-language Facebook Live voting session the county posted that “has already had 1,000 views.”

Voters with questions can contact Buncombe County Election Services at 35 Woodfin St., Asheville, NC 28801; phone 828-250-4200; email elections@buncombenc.gov.