First-ever digital ID for voting approved by NC elections board, as GOP members object

The North Carolina State Board of Elections on Tuesday approved the first-ever digital ID for voting in the 2024 elections.

In a 3-2 vote, the board’s Democratic majority voted to allow UNC-Chapel Hill’s digital student identification to be used as a valid form of voter ID this year.

The board has approved over 100 student and public-employee IDs to be used for voting, but this is the first time a digital ID has been approved.

The board’s Republicans objected to the decision, saying it violates the state’s voter ID law.

“The physical card is a reasonable security measure,” Republican member Stacy “Four” Eggers said. “... We simply don’t have the statutory authority for a mobile app to take the place of the identification card.”

The state laws mandating voter ID talk about requiring “identification cards” and do not expressly authorize or forbid digital IDs.

A memo sent last year from Karen Brinson Bell, the board’s executive director, states that “an image of a photo ID, either as a photocopy or a photo on a mobile device, is not one of the permitted forms of photo ID when voting in person.”

At Tuesday’s meeting, Brinson Bell said UNC’s digital ID meets all of the state’s requirements for voter ID.

“This is not merely a copy or a photocopy,” she said. “These are issued IDs with expiration dates displayed.”

The board chair, Democrat Alan Hirsch, said he believed there was enough flexibility within state law to approve the digital card.

“I think that’s the way of the world,” he said. “... I think everyone of a certain younger generation than we are lives by that and they don’t carry cards.”

UNC’s physical ID had already been approved for voting by the board. However, the school now allows students to use an app containing a digital version of their student ID which can be used to make payments and access campus buildings.

A lawyer for the board said the digital ID works similarly to digital credit cards and airplane tickets that can be accessed via Apple Wallet.

NC GOP Chair Jason Simmons criticized the board’s decision at a campaign event on Tuesday.

“We continue to be concerned about what we’re seeing from what is the most partisan Board of Elections in history, to be able to put forward the electronic IDs, that’s concerning,” he said. “We need more safeguards on that, and so we’ll continue to monitor and review and potentially take additional actions on that.”

Matt Mercer, the communications director for the NC GOP, said on X that the board was “begging to get sued again.”

In June, state lawmakers approved a bill to create a digital driver’s license program by next summer, though it specifies that the digital license would only be used as a supplement to a valid physical license.

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