North Carolina judge won't prevent use of university digital IDs for voting

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — A North Carolina trial judge refused on Thursday a Republican Party request that he block students and employees at the state’s flagship public university from being able to show a digital identification to comply with a largely new photo ID law.

Wake County Superior Court Judge Keith Gregory denied a temporary restraining order sought by the Republican National Committee and state GOP, according to an online court record posted after a hearing. The ruling can be appealed.

The groups sued last week to halt the use of the mobile UNC One Card at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill as a qualifying ID, saying state law only allows the State Board of Elections to approve physical cards.

The mobile UNC One Card was approved Aug. 20 by the board’s Democratic majority, marking the first such ID posted from someone’s smartphone that the board has OK’d.

The Democratic National Committee and a UNC-Chapel Hill student group joined the board in court to oppose the restraining order. They said the board rightly determined that the digital ID met the security and photo requirements set in state law in which to qualify.

In legal briefs, they also said there was nothing in the law that prevented the approval of a nonphysical card. The DNC attorneys wrote that preventing its use could confuse or even disenfranchise up to 40,000 people who work or attend the school.

The mobile UNC One Card is now the default ID card issued on campus, although students and permanent employees can still obtain a physical card instead for a small fee. The school announced this week that it would create physical cards at no charge for students and staff who received a digital ID but want the physical card for voting.

Voters already can choose to provide photo IDs from several broad categories, including their driver’s license, passport and military IDs The board also has approved over 130 types of traditional student and employee IDs that it says qualifies voting purposes in 2024, including UNC-Chapel Hill’s physical ID card. Only UNC-Chapel Hill mobile ID credentials on Apple phones were approved by the board.

Republicans said in the lawsuit they were worried that the mobile ID’s approval “could allow hundreds or thousands of ineligible voters” to vote. They argued an electronic card was easier to alter and harder for a precinct worker to examine.

North Carolina is a presidential battleground state where statewide races are usually very close.

The ruling comes as potentially millions planning to vote in the fall elections haven’t had to show an ID under the state’s 2018 voter ID law. Legal challenges meant the mandate didn’t get carried out the first time until the low-turnout municipal elections in 2023.

While early in-person voting begins Oct. 17, the first absentee ballots requested are expected to be transmitted starting Friday to military and overseas voters, with ballots mailed to in-state registrants early next week. Absentee voters also must provide a copy of a qualifying ID with their completed ballot or fill out a form explaining why they don’t have one.