The News & Observer, by Lynn Bonner
RALEIGH – A controversial change proposed for the state constitution gained momentum Thursday as Republican legislators demonstrated their continued commitment to requiring voters show photo identification at the polls.
Voters in November would be asked if photo ID for in-person voting should be a constitutional requirement. Legislators would have the power to make the rules, which they could do any time after the election.
As they voted to move the proposal to a vote of the full House, Republicans in a House committee knocked down two Democratic proposals, one of which was to wait until next year to write the photo ID rules. Democrats hope to win enough seats in the November election to eliminate Republicans’ supermajorities in next year’s session…
…The ballot question is a blanket approval for photo ID, and it would be up to legislators to fill in the details. It is not known what kinds of identification legislators would require. Republicans want to come back to write the rules before the year ends and a new legislature takes office.
“The constitutional amendment would basically be authorizing this body to do whatever it pleases,” said Rep. Robert Reives II, a Sanford Democrat.
Before the 2013 law was overturned, some elderly people without drivers licenses said they had trouble getting identification the law required. The law did not allow college IDs to be used for voting. Some college students, including those who had voted in previous elections, were not allowed to cast ballots in the 2016 primary.