Editorial: State Elections Board works to diminish photo ID as impediment to voting

CBC Editorial: Wednesday, Jan. 3, 2024; # 8896

The following is the opinion of Capitol Broadcasting Company

To its credit the bipartisan State Board of Elections has looked, in the broadest way possible, to enforce the requirement that voters present photo ID to cast ballots.

North Carolina voters should be thankful that this approach, at least, thwarts efforts to use photo ID as a way to intimidate or limit some from exercising their right to vote.

Last week the State Board added 21 more identification cards eligible as identification proof at polling places. To date, the State Board of Elections has approved more than 120 different forms of identification that must be accepted at polling places.

The reality is that North Carolina has always required identification before anyone shows up at the polls to vote. It starts with voter registration. To register, prospective voters must prove that they are:

• Citizens of the United States.
• At least 18 years old (on the date of the next election).
• Live in North Carolina and have a residential address (or “illustrate”) where they “physically” live.
• Possess a N.C. driver license, DMV-issued ID or other physical proof of residence and citizenship.
• Not convicted felons who haven’t completed all requirements of their sentence (including any prison time, post-prison supervision, probation, parole, fines and fees, etc.).

In 2018, voters approved an amendment to the State Constitution requiring qualified voters provide a photo ID in order cast a ballot. The amendment did not specify the type or form of ID required. Initially the amendment was prevented from taking effect on the basis that it discriminated against some voters.  But after five years of judicial wrangling, the State Supreme Court last April reversed a ruling it had handed down four months earlier and allowed voter photo ID to take effect.

So now when voters -- who have already proven that they are qualified to vote and who they are -- seek to cast ballots either by absentee mail-in or in person, they still must produce a pre-approved form of photo identification.

There were initial -- and appropriate -- concerns that the motive behind requiring photo ID to cast a ballot was really an effort to constrain and intimidate certain demographic and racial groups from voting.

State law has offered categories of photo ID types – state DMV issued driver licenses and ID, U.S. passports, local Board of Elections-issued photo cards, government-issued employee IDs, college/University student IDs and IDs issued by state and federal agencies.

Instead of seeing those as limits, the State Board of Elections views them as broad classification under which it can approve a variety that will pass muster at a polling place.

The bipartisan State Board of Elections takes to heart its mission to make sure as many qualified voters as possible cast ballots and that ALL those ballots are fully, fairly and accurately counted.

As a result, the State Board has been broad and expensive in using its authority to approve various types of photo identification. Additionally, for those who don’t have access to any of the more than 120 forms of approved ID, local election boards, without cost, will provide them.

Voting for the 2024 election season is rapidly approaching. In less than three weeks local boards of elections will start mailing absentee ballots to those who’ve asked for them to vote in the 2024 March 5 primary election.

Voters who aren’t sure if they have appropriate photo ID can contact their local board of elections, watch this video the State Board has put together, check the State Board of Elections Voter ID page online.

There will be no shortage of efforts to confuse voters between now and Election Day on Tuesday, Nov. 5. At least when it comes to photo ID, our State Board of Elections is seeking to keep things simple and direct.

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