Following the successful ousting of proposed voter registration laws this spring, UNC-system students will now face a new challenge in voter-registration picture identification forms.
The new forms attack the voting abilities of students.
The bill, signed into law last week, requires a state-approved photo ID to vote in a polling place and shortens the available time for early voting. The new law is reportedly intended to suppress voter fraud.
This comes shortly after a controversial Supreme Court decision to do away with the provision of the 1965 Voting Rights Act which previously required states to obtain federal approval before amending their voting laws.
Regardless of residency, all students were previously able to register as a N.C. voter.
The previous law allowed out-of-state students to choose between voting as a resident of their home state or North Carolina. In order to do this now, out-of-state students must obtain a valid photo ID from the state.
Unfortunately, the UNC OneCard is not on the list of N.C.-approved photo identification. The new law makes the process of voting in Chapel Hill as an out-of-state student significantly more difficult.
Though not as severe as the attempted attack this spring on N.C. voting rights, this legislation still diminishes the voting leverage of North Carolinian universities. Such universities have provided markedly liberal voting bases in a Republican-controlled state for some time.
At a time when states have only recently recovered the ability to adjust voting laws, this biased law places North Carolina at the forefront of reasons why the Supreme Court was wrong.
