NC Voters grew by more than 30 percent in the last decade

More than 6.5 million people are registered to vote North Carolina, up about 30 percent from 10 years ago, state officials said Tuesday.

North Carolina's population increased by 15 percent from 2004 to 2013, according to state estimates.

"Registration is a vital first step towards broader participation in our civic community," Kim Westbrook Strach, executive director of the State Board of Elections, said in a statement.

Roughly nine out of 10 eligible adults in North Carolina are registered to vote, officials said.

The elections board also has seen a recent spike in tampered registration forms.

"We are investigating those behind hundreds of falsified registrations flagged over the past month," Chuck Stuber, chief investigator for the board, said in a statement.

Various groups are wrongly informing voters that there has been a database problem and that they must re-register, officials said, adding that no such problem occurred. Only voters who have moved to a new county since the last election must re-register, they said.

The deadline to register for the Nov. 4 general election is Oct. 10.

People can check whether their registration is valid on the State Board of Elections website.

Those who need to update their registration can obtain a form online, at county elections offices or Division of Motor Vehicles offices.

The form must be filled out completely in ink and signed, and the original copy must be returned to the local county elections office. It must be delivered or postmarked by the Oct. 10 deadline.

Lawmakers last year eliminated same-day registration during the early voting period, so people who miss the deadline won't be allowed to vote in the general election.

Absentee voting by mail is already underway, and early voting runs from Oct. 23 to Nov. 1.