Majority of NC voters support voter ID, new poll says

RALEIGH, N.C. (WNCN) — Starting with the 2023 municipal elections voters will be asked to show photo ID when voting in North Carolina. So, what do voters think, and do they already have the appropriate identification they will need?

When people went to the polls in the fall of 2018, more than 55% of voters said yes to voter ID requirements. The law sat in legal limbo for years.

Just as the Democratic justices of the North Carolina State Supreme Court were about to lose their majority, the court ruled the voter ID law was discriminatory and unconstitutional. But, soon after that, Republican justices gained the majority of the high court and reversed that decision.

The conservative Raleigh based John Locke Foundation recently polled likely voters and asked if they agree with the State Supreme Court’s decision. They also asked whether they think a voter should present identification when casting a ballot in person. More than 65% of them said yes to both questions.

“What was surprising, and we’ve never asked this question before, was that 60 plus percent of people said they would be more confident in the election results if we had voter ID,” said John Locke Foundation president Donald Bryson.

Even so, the number drops to nearly 51% who think the elections will be free and fair.

“The fact we have so many concerned about the legitimacy of our elections is actually a societal problem and so if we can do something to give people faith in the electoral process, we should probably do it,” said Bryson.

Many Democrats disagree, including Governor Roy Cooper who vetoed the original legislation.

Arguments before the courts have raised concerns about racial discrimination. Opposition to voter ID has argued such a law weighs more heavily on African American voters because they’re more likely to lack a qualifying ID or more likely to face difficulties acquiring one.

The John Locke Foundation found 96% of likely voter respondents said they do have a government issued ID.

Bryson also said that 20 out of 610 people that were polled said that they did not have an ID which was 3-4%. “Of those twenty people, eleven of them were White,” he added.