Board: 612,955 voters have no record of a DMV-issued ID

Lawmakers say a bill requiring a photo ID in order to vote could be one of the first measures they push through during the session. More than a half-million registered voters may not have the needed identification.

Posted 11:19 p.m. Jan 8, 2013 — Updated 2:00 p.m. Jan 23, 2013

Mark Binker

RALEIGH, N.C. — If lawmakers follow through with plans to require voters to show a photo identification at the polls, more than a half million registered voters could be affected, according to a new analysis by the State Board of Elections.

In an analysis issued this week that updates an 2011 report, the board reports that there are 6,624,672 active and inactive voters on eligible to vote in North Carolina. Of those, SBOE found:

5,007,790 have a valid drivers license or state issued ID based on an exact match of their name and their DMV license number.
315,040 have a valid ID based on exact match of their name and the last four digits of their social security number.
688,887 may have a valid ID based on an exact match of their name and date of birth.

That leaves 612,955, or 9.25 percent of registered voters, for which no match could be made. These voters may not have any DMV-issued identification. Of those, 506,763 are active voters, those who have voted in recent elections. There are more Democrats than Republicans on the no-ID-match list, 324,997 to 141,149. Unaffiliated voters numbered 144,968. The racial breakdown showed that more than half of those who likely didn't have a state-issued ID were white.

Exactly how a voter ID law would impact those voters would depend on specifics. Some versions of the bill would have allowed voters to use expired licenses or licenses from other states. Other versions require current state-issued ID cards.

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