Some Buncombe Voters Receive Letters from State Board

About 5,400 Buncombe County voters were sent a letter from the North Carolina State Board of Elections (NCSBE) on behalf of Buncombe County Board of Elections encouraging them to update their voter information.

This is part of ongoing efforts by the State Board to maintain accurate and current voter rolls. Accurate voter information makes it easier for poll workers to verify information at the polls.

It is important to know that receiving this letter does not affect your ability to vote or your registration status. This request for information is voluntary. If you do not respond to the letter, you will be asked to update your information at your voting site.

Voters who received the letter could include those whose information did not validate against other government databases, records with mismatched data, or voters whose data was not captured at the time of registration. This includes driver’s license and the last four digits of social security numbers. Mismatches can be caused by a difference in spelling of a name from record to record, a missing hyphen, an apostrophe or space, or use of a prior legal name, such as a maiden name, in one of the records. Mismatches can also result from a date of birth, driver’s license, or SSN entered inaccurately, or are missing.

The NCSBE website states, “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.”

What To Do

If you receive a letter you have a few options to update your information:

In person: Visit Buncombe County Election Services at the Government Services Building at 35 Woodfin St., Asheville NC, 28801 to submit the form in person and discuss options with our staff. You can also update your information at a polling location when you vote.

By mail: Fill out a form at the bottom of the letter to provide identification information and return it to the State Board in a pre-addressed return envelope, with postage provided.

Online: Recipients with North Carolina driver’s licenses or NCDMV ID cards may submit an updated voter registration form through the NCDMV’s secure website. Go to payments.ncdot.gov. There is no fee for this service. Click “Yes” when asked to update your voter information.

Starting in 2026, mailings will be sent to voters with unvalidated identification information on their voter records in January and August of each year, as part of a continued and routine process to keep the state’s voter rolls as accurate and current as possible.

If you have any questions, reach out to Buncombe County Election Services at (828) 250-4200 or visit www.buncombenc.gov/199/Election-Services.