NC State Board of Elections approves university digital ID to vote

Smartphones become a new tool for voting this fall

The North Carolina State Board of Elections has made state history by approving the use of digital identification for voting. In a decision on Tuesday afternoon, the Board voted in favor of the Democratic party 3-2, to allow students and employees at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill to use their Mobile UNC One Card, a digital ID that can be displayed on smartphones, as a valid form of voter identification. 

The Mobile UNC One Card, available only through Apple Wallet, is not just a photo or image of a physical card, but an official digital credential issued by the university. The decision shows a growing trend of incorporating new technologies into everyday life, much like the use of smartphones for boarding flights or making transactions at grocery stores. 

The approval of the digital card also comes in addition to over 130 traditional student and employee IDs that the Board has already approved for use through December 31, 2024. These include North Carolina driver’s licenses, U.S. passports, and various other forms of identification.

However, the decision was not without controversy. 

Republican board members Stacy Eggers IV and Kevin N. Lewis, who opposed the vote, argued that the state’s voter ID law requires a physical card.

“This is a different process we’re doing here than simply giving my friend my football tickets when I download them from the website,” Eggers said. “We’re talking about the requirements of the statute that there be an identification card, and in my reading of the statute, we simply don’t have the authority to do a mobile app in lieu of an identification card, because that’s what this is.”

But Alan Hirsch, Democratic board chair defending the decision, said the statute provides enough flexibility to approve the UNC request. Under North Carolina law, specifically G.S. 163-166.17 and G.S. 163-166.18, student and employee identification cards must meet specific criteria to be approved for voting. 

These criteria include containing a clear, frontal image of the individual, an expiration date, and being issued after a process that verifies the individual’s identity through methods such as Social Security number, citizenship status, or birthdate. 

The Mobile UNC One Card met all of these requirements, including having an expiration date listed on IDs, which led to its approval.

But while this move allows students and employees at UNC-Chapel Hill to conveniently use their digital IDs for voting, the digital ID stops students from using their physical cards for campus activities like accessing buildings and paying for food on meal plans for security. 

While the acceptance of this new form of ID could potentially make voting more accessible for students and employees at the university, the political and legal implications of this decision may continue to unfold in the coming months.

In a X post following the vote, the North Carolina Republican Party said that they won’t stand for the decision, claiming the Board is “playing more games with election integrity,” when voter ID requirements have other options available.

For example, if a person is without an ID on Election Day, they have the chance to vote anyway by completing an ID Exception Form and voting with a provisional ballot right away, or voting with a provisional ballot and bringing an ID to their county board of elections’ office later by Thursday, Nov. 14. [Editor’s Note: This date was changed from Nov. 21.]

For those voting by mail, new rules require a person to include a photocopy of their ID into their absentee envelope. UNC-Chapel Hill students can now insert a photocopy of their One Card through their phones.

As elections approach, UNC-Chapel Hill students and employees will be the first in the state to use digital IDs at the polls—a move that could reshape how voting is conducted across the state. And whether this change will stay permanently, for now, it offers a new step towards modernizing voter access in the democratic process.