Texans Weren’t Disenfranchised Last Week?

From the Texas Tribune’s story about voting in Texas last week — a state that requires a photo I.D. to vote.

Election officials from some of the state’s 10 most populous counties said there were few instances in which voters were unable to cast their ballots or had to cast provisional ballots because of questions about their ID. Still, because of the new law, thousands of voters were required to sign affidavits affirming their identity before voting.

Here in North Carolina, a photo I.D. will be required as of 2016 — giving those without identification more than two years to acquire it, at no out-of-pocket cost. And for those who continue to say North Carolina’s election reform law is “extreme,” here are the facts once again, as detailed by JLF’s Becki Gray.

• Voter ID: required. Thirty-three states require voters to present identification at the polls. North Carolina is the 34th and joins a national trend of requiring a photo ID. Two-thirds of North Carolinians asked in several polls favor a government-issued photo ID to vote. 

• Straight-ticket voting: no longer allowed. Fourteen states allow straight-party voting. North Carolina joins the 36 states that do not. 

• Early voting: fewer days but the same number of hours. Fifteen states allow neither early voting nor no-excuse absentee voting. Thirty-two states have early voting periods ranging from four days to 45 days prior to election day, with an average of 19 days. North Carolina allows 10 days but requires the same number of hours of early voting that were available in 2012 and 2010, when the early voting period was 17 days. 

• Same-day registration: no longer allowed during early voting. Only Ohio and North Carolina allowed same-day registration during early voting. Ten states and the District of Columbia allow same-day registration on election day. North Carolina no longer does.