ID is now required to cast a ballot in NC. Here’s what voters need to ensure they can vote
For the first time since March 2016, North Carolina voters this year will be required to show a photo identification when voting in person.
This follows an April 28 ruling by the North Carolina Supreme Court that cleared the last lawsuit that had been blocking the voter photo ID clause in the state Constitution and the laws to implement that clause. Photo ID was added to the state Constitution in 2018.
City and town elections around the state are scheduled for September, October and November. If you plan to vote, read on to learn more about what to do to make sure you have an ID that will be accepted, what to do if you lose your ID and more.
This information is current as of early May 2023. The North Carolina General Assembly can change the voter photo ID law at any time.
What type of ID may be used to vote?
As of May 2023, the following types of ID may be used when voting, according to the North Carolina Board of Elections office:
A North Carolina driver's license or non-driver ID card from the state Division of Motor Vehicles. (This does not have to be a Real ID version.)
A driver's license or non-driver ID from another state or commonwealth, the District of Columbia or a U.S. territory — but only if you have registered to vote in North Carolina within 90 days of the election.
A U.S. passport or U.S. passport card.
A North Carolina voter ID card issued by a county board of elections.
A college or university student ID approved by the State Board of Elections.
A state or local government employee ID or charter school employee ID approved by the State Board of Elections.
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What if my ID is expired?
The above forms of photo ID may be used, even if they have expired, so long as they have been expired for no more than a year.
A voter who is age 65 or older can use an expired ID, no matter how long it has been expired, so long as the ID was not expired on the voter’s 65th birthday.
Some types of ID with no expiration date can be used to vote
Some IDs that may not have an expiration date printed on them may also be used to vote. These are:
A military or veterans ID card issued by the U.S. government.
A tribal enrollment card issued by a state- or federally recognized American Indian tribe.
An ID card issued by the U.S. government or the state of North Carolina for a public-assistance program.
How do you get an ID if you do not have one?
The N.C. Division of Motor Vehicles provides non-driver ID cards ($14), free non-driver ID cards, and driver's licenses ($5.50 per year, payment required in advance for the number of years the license will be valid).
“Additionally, all county boards of elections will soon be able to issue free IDs for voting purposes to registered voters in their county,” State Board of Elections spokesman spokesman Patrick Gannon said via email.
Be aware that the county election offices won't issue IDs between the last day of early voting and Election Day.
What if your ID is lost or stolen and you don’t yet have a replacement?
If your ID is lost or stolen, the NCDMV says it can take as long as 20 days for you to receive a replacement ID after you order one. But you can still vote even if you haven't received or yet ordered the replacement.
“The voter can still vote by filling out a reasonable impediment declaration form and checking the box for ‘Lost or stolen photo identification,’” Gannon said.
Are there other ways to vote without photo ID?
The voter photo ID clause in the state Constitution and state law allow for other exceptions to the ID requirement. You need to fill out a reasonable impediment declaration form and note what impeded you from having photo ID. The law says acceptable reasons include:
A religious objection to being photographed.
You were in a natural disaster within 100 days prior to the election day.
You have applied for an ID but haven't yet received it.
You couldn't get an ID due to disability or illness, work schedule conflicts, family responsibilities, a lack of a birth certificate or other documents required for the ID or a lack of transportation.
If there is another reason you lack ID, you can write it down on the form.
The county board of elections is required by law to count the ballot unless the board has reason to believe the voter lied about why he or she did not have a photo ID.
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How will ID be handled for people who vote with mail-in absentee ballots?
The voter photo ID clause in the North Carolina Constitution says the requirement is only for in-person voting.
However, state law says an absentee ballot voter must enclose with their mail-in ballot one of the following:
A copy of a current and valid photo ID, or
A copy of a current utility bill, bank statement, government check, paycheck or other government document that has the voter’s name and address.
“In the alternative, they can complete an affidavit on the envelope attesting to a reasonable impediment that prevents them from providing a copy of the ID,” Gannon said.
What happens if the poll worker rejects your ID?
Poll workers may look at your ID and say you don’t look like your picture. This happened four times in March 2016 when North Carolina briefly required photo ID, The Fayetteville Observer reported in 2018. These voters were allowed to cast provisional ballots, which may or may not have been counted.
Under today’s photo ID law, “If a poll worker disputes that the photograph on the ID is the person presenting to vote, the poll worker must file a voter challenge,” Gannon said. “The voter will be permitted to vote unless all precinct judges present unanimously agree that the photo on the ID does not bear reasonable resemblance to the voter.”
Poll workers may also mistakenly reject an ID that the law says is valid for voting. In 2016 this happened when a veteran in Fayetteville and another veteran in Raleigh tried to use their Veterans Affairs IDs to vote.
The veteran in Fayetteville told The Fayetteville Observer he used his driver's license to vote after his VA card was rejected.
The veteran in Raleigh (who is this writer’s father) disagreed with the poll worker when the worker rejected his VA card. The poll worker then consulted voter ID guidance documents, saw that the VA card was to be accepted as ID, and allowed the veteran to vote.
Gannon said people who try to vote with invalid ID may fill out the reasonable impediment form to explain why they don’t have a valid ID. “Alternatively, the voter may cast a provisional ballot and promptly return to the county board of elections to show valid ID,” he said.
What happened to the 2016 voter ID law?
The legislature passed a voter photo ID law in the early 2010s and it was used in the March 2016 primaries.
But then it got struck down in a lawsuit in the following months.
The courts were persuaded by evidence that the people who drafted the voter ID law researched what type of photo IDs Black voters were likely and unlikely to have. The authors then revised the voter ID legislation to exclude the IDs that Black voters preferred. This may have been because the authors of the voter ID law were Republicans, and Black voters tend to be Democrats.
The Democratic and Republican parties have a long history of passing laws designed to rig elections against their opponents. The GOP in this instance overstepped because election laws designed to rig elections based on the opponents’ race are unconstitutional.
North Carolina voted in 2018 for voter photo ID — what took so long to bring it back?
In response to the lawsuit defeat, the legislature asked voters to add voter photo ID to the state constitution. The voters approved it in the November 2018 election and the legislature in December 2018 passed laws to implement it.
The amendment and new laws immediately drew lawsuits, and implementation of photo ID was postponed pending the outcomes of the cases. The state Supreme Court on April 28 found that the voter photo ID law is valid. With that ruling, it will be used for upcoming elections.
Senior North Carolina reporter Paul Woolverton can be reached at 910-261-4710 and pwoolverton@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on The Fayetteville Observer: Photo ID is required to vote in NC this year. What ID can you use?
