The Freedom to Vote Act (FTVA) would expand access to the ballot box for millions of Americans and ensure that all citizens can easily exercise their right to vote, regardless of their ZIP code. At the same time, this transformational federal voting rights legislation would strengthen election security, improve election administration and campaign finance transparency, and ban partisan gerrymandering.
The FTVA would make voting easier and more secure for more than 7.5 million voting-age North Carolina citizens, of which more than 4.5 million are currently registered to vote. A new report from the Center for American Progress provides analysis and statistical extrapolations to illustrate how the 2024 and subsequent election cycles would be transformed if the FTVA’s key voting policies had been enacted in 2022, when the legislation was blocked through the use of the filibuster on the U.S. Senate floor.1
Read the full report
Analysis and projections for North Carolina, based on previous academic and expert research as well as original research, demonstrate the transformative impact the FTVA could have for voters in the state.
Unless otherwise cited, the author conducted original analysis and created projections primarily based on data published by the U.S. Census Bureau and the U.S. Election Assistance Commission for past federal election cycles. For a comprehensive look at the data analyzed for this fact sheet, see here.
To put some of the findings below into perspective, the 2016 North Carolina election was decided by 173,000 voters, the 2020 North Carolina presidential election was decided by 74,000 voters, and the 2022 North Carolina U.S. Senate election was decided by 122,000 voters.2
173,000
voters decided the 2016 North Carolina presidential election
74,000
voters decided the 2020 North Carolina presidential election
122,000
voters decided the 2022 North Carolina U.S. Senate election
486,000
additional North Carolina voters would likely cast a ballot in the 2024 general election
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Take Action: Pass the Freedom to Vote Act and the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act
Automatic voter registration
The FTVA would ensure eligible North Carolina citizens can automatically register to vote through the department of motor vehicles.3 Automatic voter registration (AVR) has been shown to be critical not only for registering voters and keeping voter rolls up to date but also for closing racial gaps in voter registration rates. Given the measured impacts that AVR has had in other states:
- Approximately 1 million North Carolinians likely would have newly registered to vote through AVR, including approximately 22,000 Hispanic North Carolinians and 179,000 Black North Carolinians.
- Approximately 783,000 already registered North Carolina voters likely would have updated their voter registration information using AVR ahead of the 2024 general election.
- Approximately 486,000 additional North Carolina voters would likely cast a ballot in the 2024 general election, including approximately 86,000 Black North Carolinians and 10,000 Hispanic North Carolinians.
Same-day voter registration
The FTVA would ensure eligible North Carolina citizens can register to vote at the polls not only during the state’s early voting period—as is currently allowed—but also on Election Day.4 Same-day voter registration (SDR) greatly benefits communities that tend to move more frequently and therefore need to update their voter registration information more often; Hispanic Americans and young Americans are among the demographic populations that move around the most frequently.5 Additionally, SDR helps mitigate issues with inaccurate voter roll purges that often disproportionately affect voters of color.6 The SDR policy in the FTVA would ensure that voters inaccurately removed from the voter rolls are able not only to re-register at the polls but also to cast a nonprovisional ballot.
Across the past three federal election cycles, Hispanic voters in states with SDR had an average voter turnout rate that was 6.6 percentage points higher than that of Hispanic voters in states without SDR; during the last presidential election, it was 4.5 percentage points higher. Additionally, academic experts have found that SDR increases youth voter turnout by between 3.1 percentage points and 7.3 percentage points.7 Given these findings:
- During the 2022 general election, 6 million North Carolinians voted on Election Day—41 percent of all voters who cast a ballot.8 That means 1.6 million voters who could have had access to SDR with the passage of the FTVA did not. The FTVA would ensure that all eligible North Carolina citizens would be able to register at the polls or update their voter registration information at the polls on Election Day.
- Likely more than 1 million North Carolina voters will also not have access to SDR on Election Day for the 2024 general election.
Ballot drop boxes
The FTVA would ensure North Carolinians have access to ballot drop boxes 24 hours per day, 7 days per week in order to efficiently, cost effectively, and securely return mail-in ballots. In states that allow all voters to request a mail-in ballot and provide drop boxes, on average, 27.9 percent of mail-in ballots are returned by drop box. Given the requirement for drop boxes in the FTVA, CAP analysis finds that:
- At least 102 drop boxes would be available to voters across North Carolina, including some 24/7 drop-boxes.
- Approximately 130,000 North Carolina voters would likely return their ballot to a drop box.