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NC Senate To Vote On Revised Voter ID Bill Thursday

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The North Carolina Senate will vote on a revised voter identification bill Thursday morning after it advanced in the legislature Wednesday afternoon.

The bill, which passed via a preliminary vote in the Senate 32-11, comes after North Carolinians voted for a change to the state's constitution requiring photo ID for voters. If the Senate passes the bill, it will then be taken up for consideration by the North Carolina House. 

The General Assembly is operating in a lame duck session with a supermajority of Republicans in the House and Senate before the new legislative session begins in January.

The voter ID bill would require anyone who wants to vote to present a valid photo ID at their polling place on the day they vote. 

According to the bill, acceptable forms of identification would include driver’s licenses, passports, tribal IDs, some employee IDs, and college IDs for public and private colleges and universities that opt-in. 

The bill would require county election boards to issue photo ID cards to registered voters upon request. County boards would have to start offering those by May 1, 2019.

The Senate adopted six amendments to previous versions of the bill. One would extend the time voter ID cards may be issued any time except during the period between one-stop voting for a primary or election and Election Day. 

Another amendment allows people who want to vote without a photo ID to check a form which specifies a reasonable impediment that kept them from getting a photo ID. A different amendment extends the life of voter ID forms from eight to 10 years, and rules that county election boards must notify voters 90 days before their card expires. 

Cole del Charco is a journalist, writer and radio producer from Hickory, North Carolina.