Republicans have sued the North Carolina State Board of Elections (NCSBE) over a recent decision to allow University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC) employees and students to use digital identification to vote.
The state Republican Party and the Republican National Committee (RNC) filed the lawsuit in Wake County Superior Court on Thursday, just weeks after the North Carolina State Board of Elections approved the use of University of North Carolina-issued digital IDs in a 3-2 vote. The plaintiffs in the lawsuit argue that the school-issued digital IDs don't comply with the state's voter ID law.
“The law does not permit the NCSBE to expand what constitutes a recognized student identification card from a tangible, physical item to one that can only be found on a computer system,” the Republican committee argued in the lawsuit.
The UNC digital ID will work on Apple devices, and the card will be optional and can be presented digitally on a mobile phone. Republicans argued in their lawsuit that voter identification must be in a “physical, tangible” form to prove a voter's eligibility to vote.
“These physical items include passports, driver's licenses, non-driver's photo IDs, registered voter IDs, military IDs, veteran IDs, tribal registration cards, etc.,” the lawsuit states.
“Expanding the requirement for photo ID before registering and accepting voters at in-person polling places in violation of the law could allow hundreds or thousands of ineligible voters to vote in the Nov. 5, 2024 election and beyond,” the RNC and state parties said in a statement.
The plaintiffs also argue that electronically stored voter photo IDs are “easily altered” and ” [a] “It is a physical, tangible item that can be held and inspected by police officers.” [the] screen.”
North Carolina is likely to be a battleground state in the 2024 election. Former President Trump won the state by about 1.3 percentage points in the 2020 election.
The Hill has contacted the State Election Commission.
