Voters in town and city elections in North Carolina last year had to show a valid ID in order to vote, but the March 2024 Primary Election is the first time that requirement is being implemented in a statewide election.
Though Guilford County Board of Elections staff worked very hard to prepare for the change, there was some concern whether unforeseen issues would arise.
According to Guilford County Board of Elections Director Charlie Collicutt, so far so good.
It’s early yet – early voting just opened up – but, he said, no big problems have arisen.
There have been no high-profile incidents of people who, for instance, refuse to show their ID because they don’t like the law, or who forgot to bring an ID and got belligerent with election workers. Nor have there been many people who arrive at a polling place stating they didn’t know an ID was required this time.
Collicutt said this week that one thing that helped the transition to the new rule is that, in smaller low-key elections in late 2023 around the state, election staff got to implement the procedure. It was something of a blessing to election officials that the requirement was introduced with smaller towns and city elections first – such as the elections in Jamestown and High Point last year. That gave poll workers a chance to work the kinks out in a calm environment where lines were short.
This primary too, is fairly low key compared to the wild circus of insanity and vitriol that is guaranteed to take place all across the country when droves of voters come out in November for what could be one of the most contentious presidential elections in the history of the country.
So, it’s no doubt a good thing that election workers have this new round of practice before that spectacle.
Last October, Collicutt said one thing that he thought had helped a great deal in the transition was a very active public awareness campaign to get the word out to voters that they now need a valid ID to vote. He said at that time that the information campaign was targeted toward those cities and towns where the voting was taking place. However, in the lead up to this election, there were a lot of state and local ads, flyers and news stories that informed most everyone in the county of the new law.
I voted early and the process was smooth and easy. For my two cents; I think the reason there haven’t been any major issues with showing a legitimate identification is because the vast majority of us welcomed this requirement and I for one have been shocked it wasn’t required earlier.
I agree with you American (sorry for staining your reputation by doing so) although I have stated my opinion on early voting…a superhighway to election fraud.
Of course, in lieu of presenting ID we could always use the system used in some places…you dip your finger in a jar of indelible ink to avoid someone voting more then once, LOL
Alan doesn’t like that the voting process is now easy for all people to have access. He wants everyone to stand in long lines, or not be able to vote due to work schedule or business travel issues. All because he has bought into the made-up fear of mass voter fraud.
Past, Present and Future voting control mechanisms have worked well for decades and will continue to work.
Only until conservatives started losing races did they suddenly make up this fear about mass fraud. Fear is all they have left to run on now that most intelligent members of the party have been pushed out.
Liberal groups like the naacp and the aclu are just ignorant of what’s right. Need a I’d to buy liquor, Need a ID to vote. A lot to do about nothing.