State Rep. Chris Millis, R-Pender, on Tuesday called for Democratic Secretary of State Elaine Marshall to resign, claiming she may have commissioned more than 320 people who were not lawful residents of the United States to serve as notary publics in North Carolina.
“In my letter I made it clear that if the secretary chooses not to resign, I will proceed with all legislative actions, including a resolution for impeachment,” Millis said at a press conference.
Millis filed a formal request on Feb. 22 to Marshall for documents providing the information commissioned notaries had provided to the secretary of state’s office. His main interest was information on those who were not U.S. citizens or did not have green cards when they applied for a notary position.
Millis said Marshall provided 1,700 pages of documents, and from those he determined that the notaries in question had provided lesser documentation, such as NAFTA work permits, Mexican National passports, and “DACA” cards from people who came to the United States as children illegally, are not legal permanent residents, but were allowed by the Obama administration under executive action to remain in the country temporarily.
The notary law and notary manual is clear, Millis said. To become a notary public, “one must reside legally in the United States.”
Over a period of nine years, he said, Marshall commissioned more than 320 people as notaries public who were not eligible based on residency requirements.
In fact, he said, one person who was commissioned was an illegal immigrant who was under a final deportation order.
He added that Marshall and representatives from her office have deceived the public, the General Assembly, and the press about this issue, using terms including “misleading statements,” “malfeasance,” and “cover up” to describe their responses.
In particular, he noted that in December, Deputy Secretary of State Haley Hanes told a legislative oversight committee that Marshall’s office accepted only documents proving U.S. citizenship or lawful permanent residence (green cards) before a person could be commissioned as a notary.
Marshall called Millis’ action a partisan attack. In a statement, she said, “This is simply a rehashing of the political attack used by my opponent [Republican Michael LaPaglia] in the recent election. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has authorized the specifically mentioned notaries to work here lawfully. That federally authorized status continues to be unchanged by the new presidential administration.”
Millis said “Phase 2” of his investigation will include a look into whether any of the notaries in question witnessed absentee ballots that were cast in recent elections — one of the ways Millis said voter fraud could occur.