GOP sues North Carolina Board of Elections over use of digital student IDs for voting

Republicans sued the North Carolina State Board of Elections (NCSBE) over the recent decision to allow digital identification cards to be used by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s (UNC) employees and students for voting. 

The state’s Republican Party and the Republican National Committee (RNC) filed a lawsuit in Wake County Superior Court on Thursday, just a few weeks after the board approved the use of UNC-issued digital IDs with a 3-2 vote. Plaintiffs in the lawsuit said the school-issued digital IDs do not comply with state voter ID law. 

“The law does not allow the NCSBE to expand the circumstances of what is an acceptable student identification card, beyond a tangible, physical item, to something only found on a computer system,” the GOP committees argued in the lawsuit. 

UNC digital IDs are available on Apple devices. The cards, which are voluntary, can present from phones digitally. Republicans said in the lawsuit that identification, which would make a voter eligible to cast a vote, should be in “physical, tangible” form. 

“These physical, tangible items include passports, drivers licenses, photo identification cards for non drivers, registered voter identification cards, military identification cards, veterans identification cards, and tribal enrollment cards, amongst other items,” they said in the lawsuit. 

The RNC and the state party said the expansion of photo identification “before registering and accepting voters at in-person poll sites in contravention of the law could allow hundreds or thousands of ineligible voters to vote in the upcoming November 5, 2024, election and beyond.” 

The plaintiffs also contended that electronically stored voter photo identification may be “easier” to alter rather “than [a] physical, tangible item that precinct official can hold in her hands and inspect.” They also argued it “may be difficult for precinct official to be able to see [the] screen.” 

North Carolina is likely to be a battleground state in November’s election. Former President Trump won the state in the 2020 election by around 1.3 percent, and polling indicates another tight race between him and Vice President Harris this year. 

The Hill has reached out to the NCSBE.