Ready to head to the polls? Take a look at how election laws have changed before you vote.

Kyle Ingram
·4 min read

With North Carolina’s primary election less than a month away and early voting starting this week, voters should be aware that new laws might make things a little different at the ballot box this year.

You need an ID to vote

First up is the big one: voter ID. Due to a ruling from the NC Supreme Court, all voters are now required to show a photo ID to vote. For most people, this means a driver’s license, but a full list of acceptable IDs can be found on the State Board of Elections’ website.

Voting by mail? You’ll still need to include a photocopy of your ID with your ballot.

Voters who don’t have an ID may fill out an ID exception form when they vote. County boards of elections are required to count ballots with completed ID exception forms “unless the county board has grounds to believe the affidavit is false,” according to state law.

County boards of elections now provide free photo IDs to any registered voter.

You might see more people watching you vote

A new law enacted last year increases the number of partisan poll observers that can be in a voting place at one time.

Poll observers are appointed by political parties and sent to polling places to view the voting process. The new law allows up to three observers from each party to be present at any given time in the voting enclosure.

Observers are allowed to take notes, listen to conversations between voters and poll workers and move freely around the voting place. Observers are not allowed to tell voters who to vote for, see a voter’s ballot or stop voters from entering the polling place.

You have less time to get your absentee ballot in

In previous elections, any mail-in ballot that arrived up to three days after Election Day would still be counted as long as it was postmarked by the day of the election.

Now, mail-in absentee ballots generally must arrive at the county board of elections’ office by 7:30 p.m. on Election Day, which for the primary is March 5.

There’s no need to wait that long. You can mail your ballot in now. And if you don’t have an absentee ballot yet, you can request one through Feb. 27.

Your signature may be analyzed

If you’re voting by mail, your signature on the ballot may be checked against the signature the state has on file from your voter registration.

This signature verification technology is being tested in a pilot program in 10 counties in the primary election. During the pilot, no votes will be thrown out for failing the verification test.

The pilot program will be conducted in the following counties:

  • Durham

  • Halifax

  • Bertie

  • Wilkes

  • Montgomery

  • Rowan

  • Jones

  • Pamlico

  • Henderson

  • Cherokee

Bringing someone with you? They may need to sign in.

A new law requires that any nonvoting person who enters a voting place must sign a log and give their name, address and the time they entered. This requirement does not apply to any minor children accompanying a voter.

What else could be different? These changes are stalled in court

Lawmakers passed more sweeping changes to elections, but some of them are currently help up by courts.

Republicans passed Senate Bill 749 last year, which aimed to overhaul the structure of state and local boards of elections. Instead of having a majority of members from the governor’s party, all of these boards would become evenly split between Republicans and Democrats. The governor would also lose all appointments to these boards, with legislative leaders getting to pick the members instead.

A panel of judges temporarily blocked SB 749 from taking effect in November.

Lawmakers also made changes to same-day registration last year that a federal court has stalled, for now. Under the new law, voters who registered to vote and cast their ballot in the same day would be sent one mailed notice to their listed address. If that notice was returned as undeliverable, the voter’s registration would be canceled and their ballot would be thrown out — without the voter being able to contest the decision.

Judge Thomas Schroeder temporarily blocked this change, writing that there was a risk voters could be unfairly disenfranchised if the Postal Service makes a mistake.

In-person early voting with same-day registration runs from Feb. 15 to March 2.