The North Carolina Division of Motor Vehicles says it will make changes to prevent noncitizens from being registered to vote, following an investigation by the U.S. Attorney's office.
U.S. Attorney Russ Ferguson says six noncitizens were improperly registered to vote through the DMV, which partners with the State Board of Elections.
The attorney’s investigation came as Homeland Security Investigations said that the DMV allowed noncitizens to register to vote. Ferguson says none of the noncitizens had voted in any election, and none of them were at fault.
“Obviously you can't commit a federal crime by accident and so we weren't going to prosecute them, but it allowed us to start digging and see, well, how did this happen?" Ferguson said.
The DMV will train staff on citizenship verification and update its systems to check citizenship status at its online and kiosk voter registration systems.
