North Carolina judge rejects GOP request to bar students from using digital IDs to vote

A North Carolina judge has rejected Republicans’ request to bar students and school employees from using digital identification cards to vote. 

Wake Superior Court Judge Keith Gregory denied on Thursday the temporary restraining order from the Republican National Committee (RNC) and the North Carolina Republican Party, which sought to prevent the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s (UNC) students and employees from using digital IDs as a way to comply with the state voter ID law. 

The judge said that North Carolina’s voting law does not forbid the use of digital IDs as the plaintiffs argued in their lawsuit filed last week. 

“Plaintiffs’ contention that state law forbids approval of digital or electronic photo identification, like the UNC Mobile One Card, as means of proving one’s identity for voting is incorrect,” Gregory said in the order. 

Republicans sued the North Carolina State Board of Elections last week over its recent 3-2 decision to permit the use of UNC-issued digital IDs for voting, arguing they did not comply with the state’s voter law and that identification for voting should be in “physical, tangible” form. They also contended the decision would allow ineligible voters to cast votes. 

The trial judge did not agree, stating that UNC digital IDs, which are available on Apple devices, assist registered voters when voting at the ballot box. 

“Plaintiffs have not advanced any credible link between the State Board’s approval of Mobile One Cards and heightened risk of ineligible voters casting illegal Votes,” Gregory said. “An unqualified voter cannot use Mobile One Card to register to vote or vote. The Mobile One Card simply helps already registered voters prove their identity when they cast Ballot.”

The Hill has reached out to the Republicans’ attorney for comment. 

The UNC One Card is the main form of ID given by the school; employees and students can also get physical IDs. The ruling came as in-person voting is set to kick off in mid-October. 

The Tar Heel State is likely to be a major battleground in the 2024 presidential election. Former President Trump won it by around 1.3 percent in 2020, but Democrats have increasingly made it a target.