CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The North Carolina State Board of Elections has ordered some Spanish-language signs warning noncitizens not to vote to be removed from around polling places. But others will stay up.

Multiple advocacy groups — including El Pueblo, Forward Justice, ACLU of North Carolina and the North Carolina State Conference of the NAACP — sent a letter this week to the state board calling for signs warning noncitizens not to vote to be removed.

Translated to English, the sign referenced in the letter says, “WARNING: if you are not a citizen of the United States of America, you cannot vote in elections. It is illegal! It is a crime. 18 U.S. Code 611. You could be deported. Don’t do it! Paid for by North Carolina Election Integrity Team.”

The sign has popped up at early voting locations in Charlotte, WFAE first reported. It’s also been reported in Durham, Orange, Granville and Pitt counties, according to the letter sent to the state board.

“This signage threatens to chill the fundamental right to vote, constitutes unlawful voter intimidation, and must be removed from North Carolina polling locations,” the letter says.

But the signs “accurately state the law,” state board spokesman Patrick Gannon said. To vote in North Carolina, a person must be a U.S. citizen, North Carolina resident, at least 18 years old on Election Day and not serving a felony sentence.

State board staff have asked county election directors to take down a different sign that uses the Spanish word “extranjero,” which translates to “foreigner,” instead of the word “ciudadano,” which means “citizen,” Gannon added.

“That could simply mean someone born elsewhere, but who is a U.S. citizen and would be eligible to vote. The sign further states that voting as a foreigner is a criminal offense and will lead to deportation, which is obviously not accurate for foreign-born U.S. citizens and misstates immigration law,” he said.

Jim Womack, who leads the North Carolina Election Integrity Team, told The Charlotte Observer his group didn’t make the signs that use the word “extranjero.”

“We wanted the signs to be neutral and to be informative,” he said, adding that his organization consulted a conservative Spanish-language group and lawyers on the wording of their signs.

The Mecklenburg County Board of Elections has received “numerous inquiries” about Spanish-language signs, spokeswoman Kristin Mavromatis told the Observer. But Mavromatis said Mecklenburg hasn’t seen any of the signs deemed inappropriate.

The state board has instructed county election officials to notify staff about signs or if they receive complaints “so we can further review them,” Gannon said.

Who’s behind noncitizen voting signs?

The signs that will remain up were paid for by the North Carolina Election Integrity Team.

The group made headlines this week over a CBS News story, which reported Womack said during a meeting members should flag voters with “Hispanic-sounding last names” when going through voter rolls.

“If you’ve got folks that you, that were registered, and they’re missing information … and they were registered in the last 90 days before the election, and they’ve got Hispanic-sounding last names, that probably is, is a suspicious voter,” said Womack according to the CBS report. “It doesn’t mean they’re illegal. It just means they’re suspicious.”

Womack’s group is part of the national Election Integrity Network, CBS reported. That group is led by Cleta Mitchell, a former adviser to former President Donald Trump. Mitchell lives in Pinehurst and has close ties to the family of former North Carolina Congressman Mark Meadows, The News & Observer reported previously.

Republicans, including Trump, have repeatedly brought up noncitizen voting as a threat during the 2024 election.

In North Carolina, a constitutional amendment is on the ballot that says only U.S. citizens who are 18 or older can vote. The North Carolina Election Integrity Team pushed for the amendment, The News & Observer reported previously.

But it is already illegal for noncitizens to vote, and multiple audits by election officials and academic studies in recent years have found attempts by noncitizens to vote or register to vote are exceedingly rare in the U.S., NPR reported.

Womack said his group is “nonpartisan” and made the signs to help inform noncitizens who may think they’re allowed to vote because they have driver’s licenses.

“We made the signs really to protect them,” he said.

The groups who opposed the signs in the letter to the state board said “voters are already clearly informed when registering to vote” that they must be a U.S. citizen and accused Womack’s group of “attempting to take over the state’s legitimate role of overseeing elections.”

“The NCEIT signs placed outside of polling places serve no purpose but to intimidate legally qualified voters from engaging in our political process,” they wrote.

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