If you like what you are reading and believe in independent, nonprofit, nonpartisan journalism like ours—journalism the way it should be—please contribute to keep us going. Reporting like this isn’t free to produce and we cannot do this alone. Thank you!
All North Carolina voters will be asked for their IDs when they check in to vote this year. They will still be allowed to vote with or without a photo ID under an exception. Most voters will use their North Carolina driver’s license, but there are ways to vote if you don’t have an ID or yours is expired. This is a quick guide to the rules—and the exceptions—from the State Board of Elections.
List of IDs that count if unexpired or expired for one year or less:
List of IDs that count regardless of expiration date:
Only the ones approved for voting will count. The State Board of Elections approved 100 student and employee identification cards across the state for use in the 2023 municipal elections and 2024 primary and general elections in North Carolina. View the list here. See also the information sheet on voting as a college student in North Carolina.
You are still allowed to vote under an exception. If this occurs, you will vote with a provisional ballot and fill out an ID Exception Form. If you’re voting absentee-by-mail, fill out the ID Exception Form with your ballot.
Here are the exceptions that qualify a voter to vote without a photo ID:
You can still fill out a provisional ballot. Then, you are required to bring an acceptable ID to the county elections office by the day before the post-election county canvass. For municipal elections in September and October, this deadline is the Monday following Election Day. For all other elections, the deadline is the second Thursday following Election Day.
No, the address on the photo ID does not have to match the voter registration records for in-person voters.
Mail voters will place a photocopy of their ID in a pocket on the outside of the ballot container envelope, which is then placed in an outer return envelope to protect voter privacy. There is an exception for mail-in voters who are unable to attach it to the mailed absentee ballot.
You can get one from two places: your county board of elections or the NCDMV.
For county boards of elections: County boards will be issuing free voter photo IDs during early voting. They will NOT be issuing IDs between the last day of early voting and Election Day. To obtain one, visit your county board of elections during business hours. To be issued a free voter photo ID card, you must provide your name, date of birth and the last four digits of your Social Security number, and have your photo taken.
You can also get a free ID card from the N.C. Division of Motor Vehicles. Visit an NCDMV driver license office with these required documents:
Yes, if the form is filled out properly by an eligible registered voter. The ballot may only be rejected if the bipartisan county board of elections unanimously decides that the voter provided false information on the form. According to Patrick Gannon, the NCSBE public information director, a decision that the form is false can only be made after the county board provides the voter with notice and an opportunity to be heard. The decision must also be in writing and identify the specific basis for the county board’s conclusion.
The photo on the ID should “reasonably resemble” the voter. Even if the election worker checking you in does not believe the photo reasonably resembles you, you can still vote regularly, unless the judges of election at the polling place unanimously agree that the photo does not reasonably resemble you. If that happens, you can still vote, just with a provisional ballot.
The photo ID laws are found in the following statutes and rules, which state that a registered voter is required to present a photo ID when voting in person or by mail and outline the exceptions detailed above:
For all NCSBE website pages, click “Select Language” in the top right corner and change to your preferred language.
This article is part of U.S. Democracy Day, a nationwide collaborative on Sept. 15, the International Day of Democracy, in which news organizations cover how democracy works and the threats it faces. To learn more, visit usdemocracyday.org.
Here are three good reasons to support Carolina Public Press today: we are independent and have no shareholders telling us what to do; our quality journalism is vital at a time when powerful people need to be held accountable; and donating takes less time than it took to read this message. Click here to support nonprofit, nonpartisan journalism. Have a question about this story? Do you see something we missed? Send an email to news@carolinapublicpress.org.
Republish This Story
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. You may republish our stories for free, online or in print. Simply copy and paste the article contents from the box below. Note, some images and interactive features may not be included here.
Close window XThis work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. You may republish our stories for free, online or in print. Simply copy and paste the article contents from the box below. Note, some images and interactive features may not be included here. Read our Republishing Guidelines for more information.
by Grace Vitaglione, Carolina Public Press
September 15, 2023
Grace Vitaglione is a reporter for Carolina Public Press. Send an email to gvitaglione@carolinapublicpress.org to contact her.
