Editorial: Recent election exposes voter photo ID problems that need fixing

CBC Editorial: Tuesday, Nov. 21, 2023; editorial #8889

The following is the opinion of Capitol Broadcasting Company

The next couple of months are critical to make sure as many eligible people as possible are able to vote. North Carolinians can act directly to help the State Board of Elections fulfill the most essential of its tasks.

The state board is seeking public comments and suggestions as it prepares to set permanent rules on requirements for the presentation of photo ID at polling places to vote.

It is an important and rare opportunity for direct citizen participation to help assure NO ONE is denied the right to cast a ballot due to unintentional – or maybe even intentional – bureaucratic impediments.

During the recently completed municipal elections, voters for the first time were required to provide designated forms of photo identification to cast ballots. North Carolinians have, for decades, been required to provide a variety of documents, including photo identification, to register to vote. We have consistently supported reasonable voter photo ID requirements.

What local officials found -- and there’s no reason to think the experiences in Mecklenburg County were also seen in polling places across the state -- was some confusion and frustration with how voter ID was implemented.

There were 99 provisional ballots cast in Mecklenburg County because the voters did not have the appropriate identification. As required by state law, an exception form was completed, including a place to explain the situation and allowed voters to show they had valid reasons for not having the required photo ID. The form required at least two signatures affirming the truthfulness of the statements.

Don’t think for a moment 99 ballots aren’t significant, particularly in local elections where it is not rare to have winners or losers determined by far fewer votes. Of those 99 provisional ballots, 29 were rejected. But, in making the determinations, Mecklenburg County Board of Elections members complained they lacked clear guidance to determine whether to accept or reject a provisional vote – particularly if the issue was whether a form had been properly completed.

“This got a lot of things out that we needed to start talking about,” said Michael Dickerson, director of the Mecklenburg County elections board . “It shows that it’s got them thinking about the process. So we can come back and in the next few months be able to make recommendations to make it bigger and better.”

The leaders of the General Assembly, at whose behest a state Constitutional amendment was initiated and later approved by voters, wanted the ID requirement to assure elections were fair with only truly eligible voters casting ballots.

But, in the implementation of the requirement, legitimate questions were (and are being) raised as to whether the actual goal was more to make it more challenging for certain groups of voters – particularly racial minorities – to cast ballots.

Today, at a federal courtroom in Winston-Salem, lawyers are set to argue over moving ahead to a trial that will determine the legality of the law implementing voter photo ID.

With candidate filings for the 2024 elections starting in just two weeks and primary voting in March, having voter-friendly procedures in place are critical.

Those with suggestions, questions and concerns about the implementation of photo id voter requirements can submit them:

• Online directly at the State Board of Elections’ Public Comment Portal: Permanent Photo ID Rules,
• Via email to: rulemaking.sboe@ncsbe.gov
• In writing via the mail to: N.C. Board of Elections; Attn: Rulemaking Coordinator; PO Box 27255; Raleigh, NC 27611-7255

For more information on submitting comments, the request for public comment is available here.

Candidates, local and state election administrators and most of all voters have much at stake in making sure voter ID procedures accomplish important objectives. One is helping ensure the voters casting ballots are, in fact, who they claim to be. The other, even more critical, is making sure all eligible voters have easy and accessible ways to cast their ballots.

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