Amid voter ID decisions, students share experiences with obtaining physical One Cards

On Aug. 20, the UNC Chapel Hill physical and mobile One Cards were approved as valid forms of voter ID by the North Carolina State Board of Elections.

38 days later, the N.C. Court of Appeals overruled this decision, unanimously agreeing that the mobile One Card was no longer a valid form of voter identification.

An Oct. 17 email sent to all UNC students said that due to the recent change in the voting policy, students and employees who only had mobile One Cards would need to make other arrangements to show accepted forms of voter ID. A physical One Card remains a valid form of voter identification.

However, UNC first-year Aracely Perez said a lot of people still think a digital One Card is an acceptable form of voter ID. 

“I think that a lot of the information that Chapel Hill has given, it is so convoluted,” she said.

This year, the One Card Office began phasing out physical One Cards in favor of mobile One Cards for first-year students. Perez said that by making students go out of their way to get a physical card, it makes them less inclined to use it as voter identification. 

“The physical One Card, without the chip technology of the standard One Card, is available at no cost for any faculty, staff or student who only obtained the mobile One Card,” the University said in the Oct. 17 email. 

For students who have previously received a physical One Card from the third floor of UNC Student Stores, a replacement can be obtained for a fee of $10. Once requested, University Media Relations said in an email statement that they can print the cards in "a matter of minutes," and have printed 618 physical One Cards since Aug. 1 — an estimated 10-15 cards daily. 

Vijaykrishna Bajaj, a first-year out-of-state student, said that he is registered to vote. However, since he doesn't have an N.C. ID, Bajaj said he would not have been able to cast his ballot in North Carolina without the new One Card policy.

He said that he expects that there is going to be a "depressed, dampened turnout" for the 2024 election season.

“The voting laws, being an out-of-stater, [are] very confusing in North Carolina,” he said. 

Bajaj said that when students are told that they can use the mobile One Card to vote, they plan to vote with it. But when the state reverses that decision, it sends a mixed message to students.

“Even if it's a slight depression in vote, these confusions and constant afflictions at the state level are going to cause a number of students to turn away from the ballot box this week,” he said.

After being recruited by lawyers at the Democratic National Committee, Bajaj was also a witness at the initial court case, which the North Carolina Board of Elections won. He said that the judge's closing statement was interesting.

“[The judge] said something to the effect of that this court, or no court in this state, is going to tell thousands of UNC students that have already made their plan to vote, that they cannot vote even if they've done everything right,” he said.

Bajaj said that he thinks that this is a message that resonates with a lot of students on campus.

“Our right to vote itself in future elections is on the ballot, because if we give back power to a super majority in the state legislature to a party that continues to undermine our right to vote, who knows what could be next?” he said.

CORRECTION: A previous version of this article incorrectly stated that you could use a mobile One Card to establish residency. A mobile One Card cannot be used for any aspect of voting. The Daily Tar Heel apologizes for this error. 

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