One of the strictest voting bills in the nation is a signature away from being enacted in North Carolina.
On Thursday night, the Senate passed a bill by a 33-14 vote that would bring many huge changes beginning in the 2016 elections for the state.
The bill — still requiring a signature from Gov. Pat McCrory — will limit the number of acceptable IDs at the polls, shortens the amount of early voting days from 17 to 10 and eliminates same day registration, straight-ticket voting and a high school civics program, which allowed students to pre-register to vote before their 18th birthdays.
“We need consistency across the system and reforms needed to be made,” Sen. Wesley Meredith, R-Cumberland, said. “Voter ID adds certainty to the election that every vote counts and that’s why I was supportive of those items.”
Sen. Eleanor Kinnaird, D-Orange, disagrees, believing GOP members were misleading with their claims of the need of stricter voting laws in the state in order to pass other laws, saying the government was putting more obstacles in the way of those who want to vote.
“First of all, Republicans have been talking about voter fraud with no evidence and photo ID was their fix,” Kinnaird said. “Out of the 56 pages, just three were on photo ID. The bill that we passed was very narrow. The House bill had college ID and other government issued ID still on it, while ours disadvantaged people with no birth certificate or driver’s license.
“You have to think about the elderly who have never driven because they relied on other people or those who use public transportation, especially in the city.”
Sen. Louis Pate, R-Wayne, voted for the bill, also saying many Democrats believed more work should be done to stop voter fraud.
“I think there are some statistics that say around 70 percent of the citizens approve of some kind of voter identification,” Pate said. “A majority of Democrats were in favor of photo ID, not as strong as Republicans, but over 50 percent. I believe people need to establish who they are in order to vote, so everyone’s vote counts equally.”
Sen. Don Davis, D-Greene, felt like some citizens in the state may not feel as comfortable with voting after the changes made, including political parties being able to acquire unlimited amounts of corporate donations and individual campaign donations rising from $4,000 to $5,000.
“I don’t see how this restores confidence in our election process,” Davis said. “In essence, we should be encouraging residents to vote and it’s apparent the things people like such as early voting are being condensed. I’m still trying to understand why we need a bill that doesn’t accept student IDs or early voting. I also don’t understand why we need to eliminate a civics program for high school students who participate in the voting process and pre-register.
“I thought in a democracy, we should make every reasonable accommodation and make voting more accessible, as opposed to limited, while we keep big money out of politics.”
Although Kinnaird is against the bill, she doesn’t see how it won’t be signed by McCrory, considering what the governor planned on doing when he was elected to the office.
“When McCrory got into office, he said this was the first bill he’d sign,” Kinnaird said. “Of course, it wasn’t passed until Thursday.”
Junious Smith III can be reached at 252-559-1077 and Junious.Smith@Kinston.com. Follow him on Twitter at @JuniousSmithIII.
Starting with the 2016 elections, here are the only forms of acceptable ID for North Carolina if the Voter ID Bill is initiated.
N.C. Drivers license
N.C. Identification card
U.S. Passport
Military ID
Veterans ID card
Tribal Enrollment card
Out of state driver’s license and identification card
