New elections leader vows to review mislabeled 'never residents'

Sam Hayes, the new executive director of the North Carolina State Board of Elections, said he'd review a list of at least 30 people Anderson Alerts identified as wrongly labeled never residents.

Sam Hayes, executive director of the North Carolina State Board of Elections, sits at his desk following an interview on May 28, 2025.

In the weeks following the 2024 election, Republican Court of Appeals Judge Jefferson Griffin sought to remove 267 North Carolinians from the Supreme Court vote count, accusing them of never living the state.

And a monthslong court fight has resulted in the State Board of Elections having to now develop and maintain two separate voter rolls: one for traditional voters who will continue to cast a ballot in all races and ones for people Griffin accused of being “never residents,” who will only be able to vote in federal elections going forward.

In a nearly two-hour interview at his office last week, Sam Hayes, the new executive director of the NCSBE, committed to reviewing a list of 30 individuals that Anderson Alerts identified and provided to his office as having been falsely labeled as never residents.

“I will certainly look into the folks on that list,” Hayes said. “I am committed to following state and federal law and ensuring that every eligible voter is able to cast a ballot in NC.”

Getting on the list