Republicans challenge digital IDs for voting in North Carolina

RALEIGH, N.C. (CN) — Republicans sued the North Carolina board of elections Thursday, claiming that its recent approval for the use of university digital identification at the polls could allow ineligible voters to vote in the upcoming general elections.

In a 3-2 vote at the end of August, the board approved digital student and employee IDs at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill for use as voter identification.

The Republican National Convention and the North Carolina Republican Party says in their lawsuit that allowing these digital IDs to be used at the polls would deny Republican voters their right to participate in a fair and secure electoral process, free from voter fraud.

“The law does not allow the NCSBE to expand the circumstances of what is an acceptable student identification card, beyond a tangible, physical item, to something only found on a computer system,” they wrote in the suit.

The digital ID, which is only accessible to Apple users, is added to the user’s Apple Wallet and is the first digital ID to be approved by the state for use at the polls.

Currently, approved forms of voter ID detailed by the North Carolina General Assembly include passports, drivers licenses and military identification cards, among others.

All are physical forms of identification, the Republicans say in their suit, and the General Assembly did not describe electronic photo identification as a permitted form of voter ID. Voter ID, they say, must be a physical card.

“The General Assembly’s intent is clear; an electronic identification photo that is stored on a computer device is not printed,” they wrote.

The change could also create issues when precinct officials check ID in person, the Republicans argued, such as difficulty seeing the screen or network issues. They raised questions about if a voter could bring in an iPad and use it as a photo ID, or about what happens if there is a dispute over the authenticity of the electronic ID.

In response to a request for comment, a representative for the board pointed towards the meeting where members voted to approve the university ID. In the meeting board member Siobhan O’Duffy Millen spoke in favor of including the digital ID, saying that the university had met extensive criteria to be approved.

In their petition to get the ID approved, the university said that the digital ID is secured by the same vendor that produces the chips in their physical cards, and uses similar technology as the chips used in credit and debit cards. Counsel for the board of elections described it as working similarly to how a mobile transit card or plane boarding pass would —  as an official credential contained within the Apple Wallet, not simply a photo or an image of a physical card.

The university did not responded to a request for comment by publication time.

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, which employs over 13,000 people and has over 20,000 students enrolled, transitioned to a digital ID in 2023. When students and faculty enable their mobile ID, their physical ID no longer works to enter campus buildings and make purchases.

Cheryl Carter, co-executive director of DemocracyNC, a nonpartisan organization that works to ensure voting access, said that this could impact students who use the digital ID as their primary form of identification. If the courts decide it can’t be used, it could make it more difficult for these students to vote, she said, calling the suit an anti-voter measure.

“When you think about college students, for many of them this may be their first time voting. It may be their first time voting in a presidential election, and they’re excited, and yet they continue to put these barriers in place, these anti-voter measures to keep them from being able to do something that each and every one of us as citizens should have the opportunity to do,” Carter said.

Republicans say allowing the digital ID to proceed could allow hundreds or thousands of ineligible voters to vote. Many statewide races are close, they say, and a few hundred votes could change the outcome of an election.

Carter said voter fraud isn’t as present an issue as it is claimed to be, and it is often used as a scare tactic.

She pointed to the multiple lawsuits that Republicans have recently filed against the elections board as the presidential election draws near — including suing over the counting of absentee ballots, claiming that the board is not removing non-citizens from its voter rolls and upsetting the entire absentee mailing timeline in a successful push to remove Robert F. Kennedy Jr. from the ballot.

“It’s almost like Oprah: you get a lawsuit, and you get a lawsuit and you get a lawsuit. You know, there’s all these lawsuits. What is really behind it?” Carter said. “It is to keep people from participating in the process that should be free and fair for all citizens.”

The challenge to digital ID also comes as North Carolina is scheduled to introduce supplemental digital drivers licenses in July 2025. A driver with a digital ID on their phone will be holding the legal equivalent of a physical license.

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