Voters approve photo ID for mail ballots

North Carolina residents must now show photo identification to cast absentee ballots by mail. Voters approved this change on Tuesday, altering a rule that previously applied only to in-person voting at the polls.

State election data indicates the measure passed with 2,463,276 votes in favor. The total count for the opposing side was 1,669,764. This translates to a 59.6 percent approval rate against a 40.4 percent rejection rate.

The amendment modifies the state constitution to close a specific legal gap. Current state law already mandates photo ID for all voters. However, mail-in voters who lacked a valid card could previously submit their driver's license number or the last four digits of their Social Security number. That workaround is no longer permitted under the new constitutional language.

The Republican-led General Assembly placed the referendum on the ballot. Legislative Democrats raised objections during the process. This move extends a trend in state election law that began in 2013, when lawmakers enacted a strict photo ID mandate and reduced the early voting period.

In July 2016, a federal appeals court struck down that 2013 mandate. The court found that legislators targeted Black voters with almost surgical precision. Republicans later pushed for tighter ID laws in 2018. Voters approved a constitutional amendment that year requiring photo ID for in-person voting. A federal judge upheld that requirement after the NAACP challenged it under the U.S. Constitution and the Voting Rights Act.

Republican lawmakers have described the 2018 measure as race-neutral. They noted that the law accepts a broader range of qualifying IDs than previous proposals. The 2026 vote simply extends those same constitutional requirements to the mail-in process.

The new rules take effect following the certification of the election results. Election officials in Mecklenburg County will update their absentee ballot processing procedures to reflect the constitutional change.