Legislative Watch: Voter ID Delayed

Bipartisan legislation signed by Gov. Roy Cooper last week will delay new voter ID requirements until the 2020 elections.

The law which implemented last fall’s constitutional amendment requiring photo identification to vote in person was set to go into effect in municipal elections this year, and had a specific carve-out which exempted the then likely special election in the Ninth Congressional District, but not the unexpected election to fill a vacancy in the Third District. Given the accelerated timeline in these two special elections, with absentee voting already underway in the Third, legislators decided to quickly pass a law delaying implementation of voter ID another year. So voters will not have to show ID when casting ballots in either municipal nor special elections this year.

Delay of the photo ID requirements will also permit the state elections board and staff to turn their attention to reforming loose absentee ballot processes that contributed to the scandals which required a re-run of the Ninth District election in the first place. State elections officials are recommending measures to the General Assembly which would make it more difficult for those abuses to be repeated.

Lawsuits continue seeking to have the new voter ID requirement struck down altogether. Conservation advocates, including NCLCV, opposed the voter ID amendment last year, and have joined other citizen voting rights groups in support of that litigation.

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