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A law approved in North Carolina that would make student ID cards an official form of voter identification has been met with initial reticence by universities across the state. Now, the first institution has come forward to deny its intent to meet the law's requirements.
According to a report from the Watauga Democrat, Caldwell Community College and Technical Institute in Hudson, NC plans to not sign an attestation form that would allow its student ID cards to be eligible as voter identification in the 2019 and 2020 elections.
“We are not signing on,” said Edward Terry, Public Information Officer at CCC&TI, in a March 1 statement. “The reason is that we’re not able to meet all the requirements the state has to use a college ID (as a voter ID).”
CCC&TI is “not in a position to meet all the requirements” of the new voter ID law, which in part requires the ID card issuance process to verify student Social Security numbers, birth date and citizenship status.
There has been some hesitation from other institutions in the state as a result of the law's requirement that the “chancellor, president or registrar” of the university must submit a signed letter to the State Board of Elections “under penalty of perjury” verifying that student ID cards are issued after an enrollment process that confirms those items.
A spokesperson for the N.C. Community Colleges System, says that over 55 individual community colleges in North Carolina, including CCC&TI, will each be making a decision on the ID card attestation individually.
The deadline for state post-secondary institutions to sign the attestation document is March 13. Both public and private institutions in the state are continuing to interpret the meaning of the law and are thus far waiting on a final decision as to whether or not to sign the attestation.
