Charlotte Voters Face First Photo ID Rule as Early Voting Opens for Primaries

Early voting has begun in Charlotte for the Sept. 12 mayoral and City Council primary, and voters there are the first in North Carolina who must show photo identification at the polls. Sanford's municipal primaries are also among the first elections to carry the requirement.

The rule stems from a 2018 amendment to the state constitution, which North Carolina voters approved. Advocacy groups sued over the law that put the requirement into effect, but earlier this year the state Supreme Court ruled that photo ID is constitutional.

The North Carolina Board of Elections lists state-approved IDs on its website. They include a North Carolina driver's license, a state ID from the DMV, a U.S. passport, a voter photo ID issued by a county board of elections, and a college or university ID approved by the state elections board. A state or local government ID or a charter school employee ID also qualifies. So do military or veterans ID cards issued by the federal government, tribal enrollment cards recognized by the state or federal government, and ID cards issued by federal or state agencies for public assistance programs.

Michael Dickerson, the Mecklenburg elections director, said he expects some confusion. "I'm sure we are going to have someone come and vote who works at Belk and show us their Belk ID," he said. "But that's not an approved ID." He stressed that such a voter would not be turned away.

Voters without an acceptable ID can complete a "Photo ID Exception Form," confirming that they "suffer from a reasonable impediment that prevents me from presenting photo ID." They must check at least one reason before casting a provisional ballot. The listed reasons are lack of transportation, disability or illness, missing a birth certificate or other documents needed to obtain an ID, work, school or family responsibilities, a lost, stolen or misplaced ID, and having applied for an ID without yet receiving it. The form also has an open-ended question where voters can explain why they lack identification.

An earlier version of the form let voters say they did not know about the photo ID requirement. The state elections board removed that option this summer. Dickerson said he still believes it would be an acceptable answer if a voter wrote it in as an "other reasonable impediment." He expects some people to arrive having forgotten their ID or not realizing it is required, and said a voter could describe an ID as misplaced. "If I don't have it with me, if I don't have it in my wallet, then it's misplaced in my book because my ID always stays in my wallet," he said.

Provisional ballots cast without ID will be reviewed by the county elections board after the election. Unless all five members of the board vote to reject a ballot, it will be counted.

The legislature is weighing other changes to North Carolina elections. Proposals include requiring all mail ballots to arrive by 7:30 p.m. on Election Day and making same-day registration and voting harder during the in-person early voting period. Neither change will apply to the Sept. 12 primary, and existing same-day registration rules remain in place.

For now, mail ballots can arrive up to three days after Election Day as long as they are postmarked on or before that date. Voters who mail their ballots must put a photocopy of an acceptable ID in the "photo ID envelope" included with the ballot, or complete an ID Exception Form with the absentee ballot return envelope.