Buncombe County offers free IDs to registered voters
ASHEVILLE - It looks like some things in life are free after all: Buncombe County is offering free photo IDs to registered voters in the area who don't have an acceptable identification card for voting.
All voters have to do is go to the Buncombe County Board of Elections office at 59 Woodfin Place and leave with an ID in hand without pulling out any form of payment in the process, according to a news release from the county.
A photo ID is required to vote in N.C., starting with the 2023 municipal elections. To make voting more accessible, each county across the state is offering free photo IDs.
What's an acceptable identification card?
When voting in North Carolina, all voters will be asked to show a photo ID card, but what makes a photo ID deemed "acceptable"?
According to the North Carolina State Board of Elections website, the following forms of ID are acceptable, if they are unexpired or have only been expired for a year or less.
A North Carolina driver’s license.
Military or Veterans ID cards issued by the federal government.
Public employer ID card.
Non-operator ID issued by the state.
Driver’s license or non-driver ID from another state, District of Columbia or U.S. territory, but the voter has to be registered to vote in North Carolina within 90 days before the election.
U.S. passport or U.S. passport card.
College or university student ID approved by the State Board of Elections.
State or local government or charter school employee ID approved by the State Board of Elections.
A military or veteran ID card issued by the U.S. government, a tribal enrollment card issued by a tribe recognized by the state or federal government and an ID card issued by an agency of the U.S. government or the state of North Carolina for a public assistance program are all accepted, even if the ID has an expiration date.
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How does it work?
Registered voters who don't have an acceptable form of identification for voting purposes in North Carolina can get a free photo ID from any of the county Election Services offices.
The release said that no special documents are needed, the voter will just need to provide their name, date of birth, and the last four digits of their Social Security number.
The voter will then have their photo taken. Buncombe County residents can make it a two-in-one stop and register to vote while also receiving a free photo ID. It gets better: The ID is printed and given to the voter right then and there.
The ID will have the voter's name, photo and registration number and will expire after 10 years.
The county elections office will issue these ID cards during business hours — 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Monday through Friday. The ID cards will stop being offered during the time between the last day of early voting through Election Day.
“Any voter who does not have an acceptable ID card for voting can now get a free ID from their county board of elections,” Karen Brinson Bell, executive director of the State Board of Elections, said in the release.
“State Board staff has worked diligently with the county boards of elections over the past couple of months to get the necessary software and hardware in place for ID printing.”
Voters also can get a free ID from the N.C. Division of Motor Vehicles and can find more information under “No-Fee ID Cards” at State IDs | NCDMV.
Director of Elections for Buncombe County, Corinne Duncan, told the Citizen Times Aug. 3 that they want to encourage everyone who is eligible to register and to vote.
"We try to make sure that we get the information out in various ways. You know, not just through our website, but through community events," Duncan said.
According to the news release voters will be asked to show a photo ID starting with the town of Weaverville, town of Woodfin, and Woodfin Water and Sewer District municipal elections this fall.
If a voter doesn't have an ID on them at the time, they are still allowed to vote, but have to fill out a photo ID exception form and vote a provisional ballot.
They can "vote a provisional ballot and bring an acceptable ID to the county board of elections office by the day before the county canvass (which is typically 10 days after elections in even-numbered years and seven days after elections in odd-numbered years). Voters who vote by mail will be asked to include a photocopy of an ID with their ballot or complete a Photo ID Exception Form for Absentee Voting. The photocopy will be mailed in a special envelope to protect the voter’s personal information on their ID," the release said.
Who votes in Buncombe County?
According to Buncombe County voting data, there are 204,556 registered voters.
72,729 Democrat.
44,490 Republican.
85,656 unaffiliated.
160,086 are white voters.
10,003 are Black voters.
The highest percentage of voters are between the ages of 41-65 at around 38% and the lowest are between the ages of 18-25 at around 9%.
The 2022 census said that there are 273,589 people in Buncombe County. Around 89% are white and 6% are Black.
Kassi Day, a spokesperson for the county, told the Citizen Times over email that equity is one their values.
"Election Services will be taking a deep dive with our new Equity Director in the coming months to really look at registration demographics and how to improve those numbers," Day said.
"Our community engagement team provides grassroots community engagement around key initiatives, and with support from our bilingual communications specialist, we'll be focusing on connecting our BIPOC residents to the election process, helping to get them registered, and making sure they are aware of all of their voting options - absentee by mail, early, and Election Day."
A vetoed bill
Senate Bill 824, which requires a photo identification to vote, was passed by the Legislature in 2018, and Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper vetoed the bill in December 2018, stating in his veto letter that "requiring photo IDs for in-person voting is a solution in search of a problem."
In 2021, a three-judge panel of the state Superior Court in Raleigh passed a permanent temporary ban on the law in a 2-1 decision.
The ruling said that "Black community leaders have expressed concerns about S.B. 824 and whether it is intended to keep Black voters from voting, decreasing voter confidence in the electoral system in North Carolina."
After a North Carolina state court panel blocked the bill, a new Republican majority revisited the law earlier this year.
The Supreme Court of North Carolina overturned this ruling in Holmes v. Moore in April of this year.
In the Holmes v. Moore decision it stated, "plaintiffs here have asserted that in enacting S.B. 824, the legislature acted 'at least in part to entrench itself by burdening the voting rights of reliably Democrat African American voters'.”
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McKenna Leavens is the education reporter for the Asheville Citizen Times, part of the USA Today Network. Email her at mleavens@citizentimes.com or follow her on Twitter @LeavensMcKennna. Please support this type of journalism with a subscription to the Citizen Times.
This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: Buncombe County offers free IDs to registered voters
