WRAL is reporting that Orange County state Sen. Ellie Kinnaird is resigning her seat in the state legislature to work on getting people registered to vote. A veteran legislator known for her staunchly feminist/progressive views, Kinnaird said she wants to register people to vote and make sure they have the required I.D. to vote. She pointed to college students as a group she is particularly concerned about.
As Barry Smith reported for Carolina Journal today, college students who don’t currently have an I.D. that will be required in 2016 will have an easy time getting one.
Out-of-state college students wishing to vote in North Carolina elections should find it relatively easy to get a state-issued photo identification card that will be necessary to cast a ballot under the new voter ID system.
While an out-of-state driver’s license or ID card issued by the N.C. Division of Motor Vehicles will suffice for people who registered to vote within 90 days of their first North Carolina election, they’ll need to obtain a different photo ID card for subsequent elections. “It should be pretty simple,” said Steve Abbott, a spokesman for the N.C. Department of Transportation.
Media reports and opinion pieces have suggested that student voters would face major impediments in 2016 when the ID requirement — included in House Bill 589, an election reform bill Gov. Pat McCrory signed last week — takes effect. Abbott suggests those concerns are overblown.
Abbott said students coming to North Carolina for college could obtain a DMV ID card by providing several specific documents necessary to prove their age, identity, proof of Social Security registration, and proof of residency.
“As soon as they have those in hand, there’s no waiting period,” Abbott said.
