Citizenship & NRC

The electoral roll lists citizens entitled to vote; the National Register of Citizens lists citizens. The two are legally distinct instruments — inclusion in a roll is not proof of citizenship, and exclusion from a roll is not a finding against it — but they draw on overlapping documentation and overlapping anxieties.

The boundary is contested precisely because an intensive revision asks electors to produce documents establishing eligibility, which is procedurally close to what a citizenship determination asks for. Keeping the two apart is a stated commitment of the Commission and a recurring worry of petitioners.