North Carolina voters will have a chance to decide next month whether the state constitution should be changed to require people to provide a photo ID for all forms of voting, including absentee mail-in ballots. The state constitution currently only requires people to show ID when voting in person, but state law requires it for mail-in ballots as well.
The measure is one of three constitutional amendments on the November ballot. A cap on the state income tax rate and limits on property tax increases are also up for a vote.
If approved, the amendments are “largely about locking in the status quo,” according to Jason Husser, director of the Elon University Poll and professor of political science and public policy.
Voter ID for in-person and mail-in ballots are already part of state law, Husser told NC Newsline. “This would lock that into constitutional law in the state, so the legislature couldn't change its mind about voter ID in the future.”
All three amendments appear likely to pass, according to results from an Elon University Poll, which surveyed 800 North Carolina adults in August.
The poll found that 63% of likely voters favored the voter ID change, compared with 25% who opposed it and 12% who were unsure. Broken down by political party, 95% of Republicans who were surveyed favored the voter ID change, along with 62% of independents and 33% of Democrats.
The amendment reads: “Constitutional amendment to require all voters, not just those presenting to vote in person, to present photo identification before voting.”
Republican lawmakers said the constitutional change is necessary to prevent courts and future lawmakers from changing the rules. While the voter experience will not change with the voter ID amendment, “it is a meaningful change to the state constitution,” according to the John Locke Foundation, a conservative think tank in Raleigh.
Rep. Mike Schietzelt, R-Wake, told WUNC News that the law increases security, especially as mail-in ballot voting has increased since the COVID-19 pandemic.
"All of your election law policy is trying to strike a balance between ensuring that every person who is eligible to vote has an opportunity to vote while also limiting opportunities for other people to interfere in the election," Schietzelt told WUNC News. "You're trying to balance security with access."
Democrat lawmakers have spoken out against the amendment, saying it adds an unnecessary hurdle for voters.
“It's difficult to undo it once it's in the constitution. I think you can’t anticipate all changes in the future,” Rep. Pricey Harrison, D-Guilford, told WUNC News.
Carolina Forward, a progressive nonprofit, is urging its supporters to vote against the voter ID amendment.
“The larger question for voters is whether this additional constitutional restriction is necessary when requirements already exist in state law and whether election rules that may need to evolve belong in the Constitution,” according to Carolina Forward.
Voter ID requirements have been debated for years in North Carolina, both in courtrooms and in the court of public opinion.
The North Carolina NAACP is seeking to have North Carolina’s voter photo ID law ruled unconstitutional. The group is appealing a lawsuit it lost earlier this year. In its suit, the group argued that Republicans enacted the voter ID requirement with discriminatory intent against Black voters, WRAL reported. Republican lawmakers said photo ID is necessary to stop potential voter fraud.
If the voter ID amendment passes next month, the status of the NAACP’s lawsuit should remain unchanged, according to Brooks Fuller, policy director at Common Cause North Carolina.
“The single biggest concern is that the [U.S.] Supreme Court's decision in Louisiana v. Callais turned decades of voting rights precedent on its head by requiring an even more strenuous test to prove unlawful racial discrimination in voting rights,” Fuller said. “That will make the burden on the NAACP and the plaintiffs harder to meet if this case ends up before the Supreme Court.”
In North Carolina, many people show their driver’s license to vote, but there are other acceptable IDs, according to the state Board of Elections. They include:
- State ID from the NCDMV, also called “non-operator ID”
- Driver’s license or non-driver ID from another state, D.C., or U.S. territory (only if the voter registered in North Carolina within 90 days of the election)
- U.S. Passport or U.S. Passport card
- North Carolina voter photo ID card issued by a county board of elections (Get a free voter photo ID)
- College or university student photo ID approved by the state Board of Elections
- State or local government or charter school employee photo ID approved by the state Board of Elections
- Military or veterans ID card with photo issued by the U.S. government
- Tribal enrollment card with photo issued by a tribe recognized by the State of North Carolina or the federal government
If a voter cannot show an acceptable photo ID when voting in person, they can still vote by filling out an ID Exception Form. If absentee-by-mail voters are unable to include a copy of their photo ID with their ballot envelope, they can also fill out an ID Exception Form to return with their ballot, according to the state Board of Elections.
This article first appeared on NCLocal and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.