On a day when several county boards of elections canvassed ballots, the Civitas Institute filed a motion asking a federal court to expedite the lawsuit it filed Monday.

On Wednesday, Civitas filed a motion asking the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina to provide a speedy review of the lawsuit, in which it is seeking a restraining order, preliminary injunction and a permanent injunction against the North Carolina State Board of Elections to prevent it from including ballots cast during same-day registration during the early voting period for the Nov. 8 general election, pending further investigation.

With the Thanksgiving holiday in play, it could be Monday before a judge considers the motion. In an order setting the holiday schedule for this time of the year, the court’s offices were closed Thursday and Friday.

The lawsuit involves about 90,000 people who used the same-day registration process during the early voting period for the Nov. 8 general election. The process allows people to register to vote and mark ballots on the same day. According to the Beaufort County Board of Elections, 410 people in the county did that during this election cycle.

Voters using the same-day registration process must produce a valid photo ID or another valid proof of residency, such as a utility bill or bank statement showing a current address.

Francis X. De Luca, Civitas president, in the motion, wants the court to resolve the lawsuit before the state board certifies election results. The board is scheduled to do that Tuesday, but that certification process could be delayed by a court order.

The restraining order is being sought, according to the lawsuit, because “voter registration application submitted through the SDR process cannot be completely verified until at least nine days after the Board will certify the election results.” The lawsuit further states the board’s “certification of the elections results using ballots cast through the SDR process violates North Carolina law because ballots will be counted without the voter registration having been verified.”

The lawsuit alleges that the defendants’ conduct in allowing “votes to be counted that were cast by persons whose voter registrations have not been properly verified as required by state law violates the one person, one vote doctrine and disenfranchises and dilutes the voting rights of the Plaintiff.”