NC Court of Appeals halts use of UNC digital IDs for voting in November election

Just weeks before the election, digital IDs have been blocked from the polls.

The North Carolina Court of Appeals issued an injunction on Friday, preventing thousands of UNC-Chapel Hill students, faculty, and staff from using the digital version of their university IDs to vote in the 2024 elections. 

The unanimous decision did not cite a reason for the injunction, but it reflects the deep political stakes surrounding voter ID laws in North Carolina, a hotly contested battleground state that could decide who wins the presidency. The issue of using digital IDs at the polls is just the latest flashpoint in a larger struggle over access to the ballot box, particularly for younger voters.

Republicans, who have long advocated for stricter voter ID requirements, argue that allowing digital IDs opens the door to potential fraud and undermines election security. Democrats and voting rights advocates, on the other hand, see digital IDs as a way to make voting more accessible, especially for students and younger voters who are less likely to carry physical forms of identification on a daily basis.

The decision granted the Republicans’ request for a writ of supersedeas—a legal term that effectively pauses the lower court’s ruling. This means that the use of the digital IDs, known as Mobile One Cards, is suspended until the case moves further through the courts.

The legal battle and how we got here

In a board meeting in August, the North Carolina Board of Elections approved the use of the university’s digital ID, known as Mobile One Cards, at polling locations across the state, making them the first digital IDs to ever be approved as a voter ID.

READ MORE: NC State Board of Elections approves university digital ID to vote

The approval, however, was short-lived.

The North Carolina Republican Party and the Republican National Committee filed a lawsuit soon after the vote, arguing that the state’s voter ID law allows only the use of physical photo IDs, not an image stored on a mobile device.

But, UNC Mobile One Cards are not an image of an ID. They are official digital credentials issued by the university, available exclusively through Apple Wallet. State law does not explicitly define a voter ID as a physical card. 

READ MORE: NC Republicans sue elections officials for allowing UNC’s digital ID in voting

“There’s certainly enough flexibility within the statute for us to approve a digital card as a card,” Alan Hirsch, a Democrat, said in the meeting. “I think that’s the way of the world.”

And last week, NC Superior Court Judge Keith O. Gregory ruled in favor of the NCSBE and allowed mobile IDs to be used in the election. But the victory for student voters again was brief, as the GOP filed an appeal with the state Court of Appeals, just days later.

READ MORE: Wake County court rejects GOP attempt to block UNC mobile IDs for voting

In the state, appeals court cases are assigned randomly to three-judge panels. And while the court contains 15 judges,11 are Republicans, and four are Democrats. 

What the ruling means for voters

As a result of Friday’s injunction, up to 40,000 students, faculty, and staff at UNC-Chapel Hill will need to bring physical forms of photo ID to the polls.

But in response to the original GOP lawsuit, UNC students successfully petitioned the university to provide physical copies of the IDs free of charge, to any student who needed it to vote. Before the petition, the fee to receive another physical One Card was $10. 

Additionally, a student organization joined the legal battle, after GOP sued, to defend the Mobile One Cards, claiming that these digital IDs are “the most accessible form of voter ID that UNC students have.”

So what’s next?

The injunction will remain in effect until the appeals process concludes, and it is unclear how long that may take. With the 2024 election a little over a month just weeks away, students and other voters are urged to make sure they have a physical ID prepared in time for Election Day.

Most voters will use their driver’s licenses as voter IDs, but many out of state students do not have NC licenses. However, other forms of acceptable photo IDs to be used to vote, are passports or free voter IDs available from your county boards of elections.

RELATED: 7 photo IDs that will allow you to vote in North Carolina if you don’t have a driver’s license