NCSBE executive director supports Trump admin voter roll lawsuit, also wants detailed state audit

Last week, the Trump administration sued over North Carolina's data management practices. NCSBE Executive Director Sam Hayes supports the legal challenge and also wants a thorough state audit.

NCSBE Executive Director Sam Hayes sits at his office desk on Wednesday, May 28, reading a lawsuit filed by the Trump administration over the agency’s handling of voter registration.

North Carolina’s executive director of the State Board of Elections said in an exclusive interview that he fully supports a lawsuit from President Donald Trump’s administration that would compel elections officials to identify and remedy the missing information of tens of thousands of North Carolina voters.

“We don't need a lawsuit to tell us what's right,” Hayes told Anderson Alerts during the nearly two-hour interview last week, adding that he plans to contact the U.S. Department of Justice to work toward a resolution.

“The fact is, we failed to collect this information over time, in violation of the law, and now we've got to fix it,” he said.

Hayes isn’t a voting member on the state election board, but he holds substantial influence by overseeing the agency’s day-to-day operations. Less than three weeks into his new job, Hayes said he’ll soon ask Republican State Auditor Dave Boliek to perform a comprehensive audit of the agency.