Hear today’s concurrence vote in the N.C. House and Wednesday’s debate in the N.C. Senate on voter photo ID with the audio player below, provided by VoterRadio.com:
The N.C. House on Thursday voted 62-51 to concur with the state Senate on a bill requiring photo identification to vote in North Carolina, sending the measure to Democratic Gov. Bev Perdue for her signature or veto.
House Bill 351 (“Restore Confidence in Government“) passed along party lines in both chambers of the Republican-controlled legislature, with a veto-proof majority in the Senate, but fell short of veto-proof support in the House.
Under the bill, North Carolina voters would be required to present a state-issued photo ID when voting in person. A provision in the measure would provide photo ID cards free of charge to voters who do not have acceptable photo identification, which could cost the state $1.4 million in the first year of implementation.
The measure would allocate $600,000 to inform the state’s more than 6 million voters about the photo ID requirement.
Voters who do not have a photo ID when arriving at the polls could cast a provisional ballot. They would then be required to present a state-issued photo ID at their county board of elections office within 10 days after the election, in order for their vote to count.
In a brief discussion on the voter ID bill in the House on Thursday, Minority Leader Joe Hackney (D-Chatham, Moore, Orange) argued against the measure.
“There is no question that it disproportionately affects the African-American community and minority voters,” Hackney said. “If you’ve been paying attention to people who understand voting and voting statistics, you know this is not the direction we should go.”
