03/28/2024
Spread the love

By Erin Smith

The North Carolina House of Representatives is mulling an amendment to the North Carolina State Constitution to make showing photo identification to vote a requirement. The bill is expected to be presented on the floor of the NC House on Monday. Many groups have concerns that such a change will disenfranchise some voters.

House District 22 Representative William Brisson said, “Just about everything you do, you have to have some type of identification.”

Many hotels require photo identification for check-in and photo identification is required at many banks to open an account.

NC House Bill 1092 will go to the floor of the NC House on Monday for a vote. If 75 percent of the elected officials in both the NC House and NC Senate approve the measure, the proposal will appear on the ballot in November. The proposed bill does not state what types of photo identification will be deemed acceptable. Read the bill in its entirety here.

“This will give the people of North Carolina the right to vote on it,” said Representative Brisson.

One reason that has been touted for the Voter ID requirement is fraud. Rep. Brisson said, currently, an individual can walk into a polling location and give the poll worker a name and address. Rep. Brisson said the poll worker has no way of verifying the person is who they say they are without some form of identification.

Rep. Brisson said one argument presented against the measure is the fact not everyone has a photo identification card. He said those who do not have some type of photo identification card can obtain one at no cost at their local DMV office.

Groups such as the NAACP, the League of Women Voters, AARP, and Democracy North Carolina claim the identification requirement will create more problems for elections, according to reports.

Opponents of the bill point to the audit of the 2016 election performed by the NC State Board of Elections and Ethics Enforcement which found only one case of confirmed voter fraud, according to reports.

According to reports a number of sates already require some type of Voter ID, but Mississippi and Missouri are the only states with language regarding Voter ID in their state Constitutions.

About Author