The fight over digital voter identification in North Carolina

Tens of thousands of UNC-Chapel Hill students' and employees' digital IDs will not be a valid form of identification to vote in this year's presidential election, a North Carolina appeals court ruled Friday.

Why it matters: The move will force some of the 40,000 UNC-Chapel Hill students and workers who don't already have another form of valid voter identification to obtain one to vote, just over two weeks before early voting is set to begin in North Carolina.

Context: UNC-Chapel Hill rolled out the university-generated digital IDs, known as the One Card , in 2023, but allowed cardholders the option of continuing to use their physical cards.

• It is now the university's default identification issued on campus, the Associated Press reported .

The latest: Following the appeals court's ruling Friday, the university announced that it would offer physical IDs at no cost for faculty, staff and students who only have the digital Once Card.

Zoom out: Critics of the decision say the move could disenfranchise young voters, a crucial voting bloc for Democrats.

Catch up quick: The majority-Democratic North Carolina State Board of Elections approved the One Card as a valid form of voter identification in a 3-2 party-line vote in August.

• Less than a month later, state and national Republicans sued the board — its fourth lawsuit against the board over voting rules — seeking to get the decision overturned.

How it works: Republicans argued that the state elections board had previously stated that a digital or physical image of a photo ID would not be a valid form of voter identification.

• The board's general counsel, however, noted that the UNC One Card is "an official credential, not simply a photo of a physical card," per WRAL .

The big picture: This year's presidential election will be the first major election in which identification will be required to cast a ballot.

• The new law went into effect in 2023, putting the requirement into place in last year's municipal elections and this year's primary, where it didn't seem to have a major impact on who showed up to the polls, Axios previously reported.

What's next: The ruling could still be appealed to the majority-Republican state Supreme Court.