Ryan Wesley Routh, the man who allegedly attempted to assassinate former president Donald Trump over the weekend, voted in the Democratic primary on March 5. Was he legally entitled to do so?
Since the assassination attempt, questions have emerged about his right to vote in North Carolina based on his criminal record and his residency.
Do Routh’s Felony Convictions Prevent Him from Voting?
Routh has an extensive criminal history. According to the Guilford County Sheriff’s Office, he had “74 arrests and over 100 charges” against him from 1996 to 2014. Several of those arrests led to felony convictions.
Data from the North Carolina Department Of Adult Correction indicates that Routh has two felony convictions. They include a 2002 conviction for possessing a weapon of mass destruction (a Class F felony) and three 2010 counts for possession of stolen goods (Class H).
Article VI, Section 2, Subsection 3 of the North Carolina Constitution states:
No person adjudged guilty of a felony against this State or the United States, or adjudged guilty of a felony in another state that also would be a felony if it had been committed in this State, shall be permitted to vote unless that person shall be first restored to the rights of citizenship in the manner prescribed by law.
Under North Carolina law, those voting rights are restored upon completion of a felony sentence, including probation or parole. The North Carolina Supreme Court upheld felon disenfranchisement in 2023.
So, would Routh’s felony convictions prevent him from voting in the March 5 primary?
No.
The maximum sentence for a Class F felony with no prior convictions is 20 months, so the latest he would be serving a sentence for his 2002 conviction was sometime in 2004. Likewise, the maximum sentence for his Class H convictions in 2010 is 25 months each. Even if he received the maximum sentence for all three convictions and served them consecutively, he would have completed parole by 2016.
While Routh had “interactions” with Honolulu police for squatting in 2019, he apparently has no felony convictions in Hawaii (those serving most out-of-state felony convictions are also prohibited from voting in North Carolina).
So, Routh’s criminal history would not prevent him from legally voting in North Carolina.
Is Routh a Legal Resident of North Carolina?
According to the North Carolina State Board of Elections’ Voter Search tool, Routh is registered to vote in Guilford County.
His voting pattern is spotty. He voted in several elections in Guilford County from 2008 to 2012. He later moved to Hawaii, where he started a business in 2018, and was quoted in a Honolulu Star Advertiser article in 2019. He voted again in Guilford County in the 2024 Democratic primary, however.
So, did Routh reestablish residency in North Carolina before the March 5 primary?
Routh’s voter registration record shows his address as 2106 Hiatt Street in Greensboro, where he apparently lived “for years.” According to voter registration files, he has been registered since November 2, 2012. That indicates he registered using same-day registration during the early voting period (presumably after he had completed his sentence for his 2010 felony conviction).
Under North Carolina’s biennial list maintenance process, Routh’s registration would have been put on the inactive list in 2017 for missing all votes in two consecutive federal election cycles unless he responded to a confirmation mailing from the Guilford County Board of Elections or otherwise contacted them. His registration would have then been removed in 2021 after not voting in every election in two more federal election cycles.
I reached out to the Guilford County Board of Elections on that matter. Their director, Charlie Collicutt, told me via email why Routh was still on the county’s voter registration roll:
[Routh] registered and voted in 2012, and then updated that address to his current address in 2016. So, his no-contact clock to inactivity started after that – and we sent the confirmation in 2021, which he didn’t respond to, making him inactive at that time. When he voted in 2024, his status was inactive, but he showed up in person to vote, and re-confirmed the same address.
So, Routh was not still on the voter roll due to a list maintenance error.
Another consideration is that there is evidence that Routh’s residence is in Hawaii, not North Carolina.
The Island News reports that “Routh has lived on Oahu and worked in Hawaii since 2018.” His neighbors in Hawaii told reporters that he had lived at several addresses there with his wife:
His neighbors say they are shocked because Routh and his wife Kathleen, whose name the Kamehameha Highway house is under, are friendly and nice. The two neighbors who spoke to the news say they would never have guessed this man would be capable of doing something like that.
Under North Carolina law (GS 163‑57.(4)), people lose their residency for voting purposes when they move to another state “with the intention of making that state… a permanent residence.” It is clear from Routh’s conduct that he had made Hawaii his home. At that point, Routh should have lost his voting residency in North Carolina and been required to reregister before voting in the 2024 Democratic primary.
In addition, officials in Honolulu County, Hawaii, report that Routh is “registered there and that his status is active.”
Guildford County election officials never knew that Routh had moved out of North Carolina, however, as Collicutt reported (again, via email):
[W]e received nothing from Hawaii, [US Post Office] National Change of Address, nor any new resident at that [Guilford County] address.
The available data indicates that Routh was not a resident of North Carolina for voting purposes for much of the time from when he moved to Hawaii in 2018 and he voted in North Carolina in 2024. He should not have been allowed to vote in North Carolina without reestablishing residency and reregistering here first. His March 5 primary vote was likely illegal.
There is nothing election officials in Guilford County could have done to stop Routh since they never knew that he had moved out of the state. Even if North Carolina had joined the Electronic Registration Information Center (ERIC), they would not have gotten information on Routh’s move because Hawaii is not a member. The best solution to that problem is to reform ERIC so that more states are comfortable joining or to create a better interstate data-sharing organization.
Routh’s likely illegal vote in North Carolina’s primary exposed a problem with North Carolina’s voter registration system that we are not prepared to fix.
[Photo courtesy of the Martin County Sheriff’s Office]
