Sam Hayes
Executive director of the North Carolina State Board of Elections.
Sam Hayes, WHO runs North Carolina's elections, announced on 25 September 2026 that more than 35,000 deceased people remained registered in the state, a finding from the federal SAVE System, and promised no automatic removals.
Last refreshed: 1 October 2026 · Appears in 1 active topic
Timeline for Sam Hayes
Announced 35,000 deceased registrants found
US Midterms 2026: North Carolina's rolls held 35,000 deadBackground
Sam Hayes is executive director of the North Carolina State Board of Elections, the official WHO runs the state's election administration day to day. He took the POST in May 2025, succeeding Karen Brinson Bell. A lawyer, he previously served as general counsel to the Speaker of the North Carolina House, where he worked on election policy and litigation.
He leads elections in a perennial swing state, where decisions on voter rolls, absentee ballots and certification attract national scrutiny and frequent lawsuits. His public statements are therefore read closely for how the state will use contested federal election tools.
His September 2026 SAVE announcement shows the line he has taken so FAR: using the federal system to find deceased registrants while ruling out automatic removals.
Hayes framed SAVE as a cleanup tool
Hayes made his announcement on 25 September 2026, the day the Supreme Court let the Department of Homeland Security restart its expanded SAVE checks. He said a recent search had turned up over 35,000 dead people still on North Carolina's rolls.
What he chose not to claim mattered as much. Hayes offered no count of non-citizens, the purpose for which the federal system is usually promoted, and did not suggest that any of the dead had voted. His assurance that no one would come off the rolls automatically also fitted the federal ban on systematic removals in the 90 days before 3 November.
Who is Sam Hayes of the North Carolina elections board?
How many dead voters did North Carolina find on its rolls?
Will North Carolina remove voters flagged by the SAVE database?
When did Sam Hayes become North Carolina's elections director?
