§ 163-82.17. Change of party affiliation.
§ 163‑82.17. Change of party affiliation.
(a) Registrant's Duty to Report. Any registrant who desires tohave the record of his party affiliation or unaffiliated status changed on theregistration list shall, no later than the last day for making application toregister under G.S. 163‑82.6 before the election, indicate the change onan application form as described in G.S. 163‑82.3 or on a voterregistration card described in G.S. 163‑82.8. No registrant shall bepermitted to change party affiliation or unaffiliated status for a primary,second primary, or special or general election after the deadline forregistration applications for that election as set out in G.S. 163‑82.6.
(b) Verification of Affiliation Change by Mail. When a countyboard of elections receives a notice of change of party affiliation orunaffiliated status from a registrant in that county, the county board shallsend a notice, by nonforwardable mail, to the registrant's residence address.The notice shall state that the registrant's records will be changed to reflectthe change of status if the registrant does not respond by stating that he doesnot desire a change in status. The notice shall also inform the registrant ofthe time that the change of affiliation status will occur, and shall explainthe provisions of subsection (d) of this section. If the Postal Service returnsthe county board's notice to the registrant as undeliverable, the county boardshall send to the registrant's residence address a confirmation notice asdescribed in G.S. 163‑82.14(d)(2). If the registrant does not respond tothe confirmation notice as described in G.S. 163‑82.14(d)(2), then thecounty board shall proceed with the removal of the registrant from the list ofvoters in accordance with G.S. 163‑82.14(d).
(c) Board's Duty to Make Change. If the county board confirmsthe registrant's address in accordance with subsection (b) of this section andthe registrant does not deny making the application to change affiliated orunaffiliated status, the county board of elections shall as soon as practicalchange the record of the registrant's party affiliation, or unaffiliatedstatus, to conform to that stated in the application. Thereafter the votershall be considered registered and qualified to vote in accordance with thechange, except as provided in subsection (d) of this section.
(d) Deadline to Change Status Before Primary. If a registrantapplies to change party affiliation or unaffiliated status later than the lastday for applying to register under G.S. 163‑82.6 before a primary, theregistrant shall not be entitled to vote in the primary of a party in which theregistrant's status on that last day did not entitle the registrant to vote.
(e) Authority of County Board or Director to Make Correction. If at any time the chairman or director of elections of the county board ofelections is satisfied that an error has been made in designating the partyaffiliation of any voter on the registration records, then the chairman ordirector of elections of the county board of elections shall make the necessarycorrection after receiving from the voter a sworn statement as to the error andthe correct status. (1939, c. 263, s.6; 1949, c. 916, ss. 4, 8; 1953, c. 843; 1955, c. 800; c. 871, s. 3; 1957, c.784, s. 5; 1963, c. 303, s. 1; 1967, c. 775, s. 1; 1973, c. 793, ss. 30, 31; c.1223, s. 5; 1975, c. 234, s. 2; 1977, c. 130, s. 1; c. 626, s. 1; 1981, c. 33,s. 4; c. 219, s. 4; 1983, c. 576, s. 4; 1987, c. 408, ss. 1, 6; 1989, c. 635,s. 2; 1991 (Reg. Sess., 1992), c. 1032, s. 4; 1993 (Reg. Sess., 1994), c. 762,s. 2; 1995, c. 243, s. 1.)