LUMBERTON — The cost of implementation is one reason cited by opponents to the voter identification legislation that became law Thursday after lawmakers overrode Gov. Roy Cooper’s veto.
But the chairman of the local Board of Elections, a Republican, disputes that there will be a significant cost. Republicans also say that the large number of acceptable ID’s should not prevent anyone from getting one, including one the state will provide for free.
A recent NC Policy Watch article states that a cost estimate generated by the North Carolina government puts the tab at between $3 million and $4 million, not including the costs that will be incurred by the local boards of election that will be charged with the majority of the law’s implementation. The article challenges a state assumption that only three new state employees will be able to educate all local boards of election in North Carolina on the law. Then there is the $3 million the state Department of Motor Vehicles will lose annually providing voter identification cards for free, and the cost of defending the law in court.
“These conservative estimates from the Fiscal Research Division are consistent with partial cost estimates produced by the NC Budget & Tax Center in September,” the article reads in part. “Based on experiences in other states and data obtained on the number of North Carolinians who may require new forms of identification, the direct cost of implementation could easily be $9 million.”
The photo ID law implements a constitutional amendment approved in a referendum in November that mandates photo identification to vote in person. State voters favored it by 55 percent, and Robeson County went 63 percent in favor.
Democrats have long opposed voter ID, saying it keeps minorities, the poor and elderly from voting, while Republicans say it is needed to prevent voter fraud.
Two of the three local legislators, Sen. Danny Britt and Rep. Brenden Jones, bothe Republicans, voted for the override, while Rep. Charles Graham, a Democrat, voted to uphold it.
Steve Stone, chairman of the Robeson County Board of Elections, questions assumptions about the cost to local boards of election.
“I don’t know where that cost would come from,” Stone said.
He said the local election board would be responsible for the signage letting people know identification will be needed to cast a vote. Any added personnel cost would be minimal because local boards won’t need to hire lots of new people to meet the law’s mandates.
Stone’s opinion is based on past experience.
“We did it in 2014 in one election,” he said.
The state passed a voter identification law in 2013. It was in effect for the 2014 election before being struck down by a federal court.
One task he anticipates for the Robeson County elections office staff and board members is to go to the county Department of Social Services office, various other government offices and local public libraries to give presentations on the law.
According to the new law, voters can use a North Carolina drivers license; the special identification card for non-operators issued under state law or other form of non-temporary identification issued by the state DMV; a United States passport; a tribal enrollment card issued by state or federal recognized tribe; a student identification card issued by a constituent institution of The University of North Carolina, a community college, or eligible private post-secondary institution; an employee identification card issued by a state or local government entity, including a charter school; a drivers license or special identification card for non-operators issued by another state, the District of Columbia, or a territory or commonwealth of the United States, but only if the voter’s voter registration was within 90 days of the election; a military identification card issued by the U.S. government; a Veterans Identification Card issued by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs for use at Veterans Administration medical facilities; and any expired form of identification listed in the new voter ID law that was presented by a registered voter who is 65 years old at the time of presentation at the voting place, provided that the identification was unexpired on the registered voter’s 65th birthday.
Still opponents of the new law say some people may not have any of the accepted forms of identification listed in the law. They also say it may be too difficult for some people, particularly the poor, to obtain a voter identification card.
“If there are a significant number of folks who are unable to obtain an ID for whatever reason, then we need to ban together to help anyone without an ID obtain one as an ID is vital to functioning in society for many things other than voting, such as obtaining government benefits such as food stamps, Social Security, welfare and Medicaid, opening a bank account, obtaining housing, getting married, purchasing a gun, buying a cell phone, picking up a prescription, or purchasing certain cold medications,” said Phillip Stephens, Robeson County Republican Party chairman.
Two lawsuits seeking to have the new law struck down already have been filed in court.
One was filed Wednesday by six registered voters within minutes of the General Assembly completing its override of Cooper’s veto. The voters cited the financial costs for people who must take time off from work to get the identification card.
In a lawsuit filed Thursday in federal court the state NAACP and several local chapters claim the new law suffers the same discriminatory flaws as the 2013 voter ID law. The NAACP’s attorney, Irv Joyner, says the law’s requirements are still tainted by racial animus that will keep minority voters from the polls
Stephens disagrees.
“If you look at the academic literature, the majority of studies reveal that voter ID laws have little or no impact on turnout regardless of race,” he said. “When Georgia enacted their voter ID law, voter participation actually went up.”
Past lawsuits failed to produce anyone who had their votes suppressed, he said. This holds true for the legal challenge to the voter ID law passed in North Carolina in 2013.
“Keep in mind, absentee ballot voting doesn’t require an ID,” Stephens said. “As everyone has learned, it just requires two witnesses that the person voting is who they say they are.”
As to the legal challenges to North Carolina’s latest voter ID law, Stephens believes they will fail.
The majority of voters, Democrat and Republican, support the voter ID requirement, he said. The U.S. Supreme Court upheld North Dakota’s voter ID law in an October ruling, and 34 states already have a voter identification requirement.
“It is unlikely it will be overturned at this point,” Stephens said.
The Robesonian was unable to reach Edward Henderson, chairman of the Robeson County Democratic Party.
