Constitutional Amendment: Voter Photo ID

Wake County, North Carolina · November 3, 2026

Requires every voter, including those voting by mail, to present photo identification.

Full ballot text

Constitutional amendment to require all voters, not just those presenting to vote in person, to present photo identification before voting.

What it does

North Carolina's constitution has required photo identification from in-person voters since voters approved it in 2018, and state law already asks mail voters to send a copy of their ID or an exception form. This amendment would put the ID requirement for every voter, including mail voters, into the constitution. A vote for it means only another statewide vote could loosen the rule for mail voters; a vote against leaves that rule to the legislature.

How it lines up with you

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Dossier

Researched 2026-09-23 · Claude Code research agent with web search

A yes vote would add a requirement to the NC Constitution that all voters, including those voting by mail, present photo identification, moving a rule that currently exists only in state statute into the Constitution itself; a no vote leaves the Constitution's photo-ID requirement limited to in-person voting. Republican legislators who passed it 30-19 in the Senate and 73-45 in the House call it an election-security measure, while Democratic legislators, the League of Women Voters of NC, and Disability Rights NC oppose it as an unnecessary constitutional lock-in that could burden military, student, rural, older, and disabled voters.

For

Rep. Mike Schietzelt (R-Wake) source
NC General Assembly Republican majority (S921 sponsors) source

Against

Rep. Pricey Harrison (D-Guilford) source
League of Women Voters of North Carolina source
Disability Rights North Carolina source

What it does

A "yes" vote adds a requirement to the NC Constitution that all voters — not just those voting in person — show photo ID before voting, including by mail; a "no" vote leaves the Constitution as amended in 2018, which requires photo ID only for in-person voting (Ballotpedia). State law already requires absentee-by-mail voters to submit a copy of their photo ID or an affidavit of exception with their ballot; the amendment would move that requirement from statute into the Constitution, making it harder for a future legislature to loosen (WUNC).

Why it's on the ballot

The General Assembly placed it there through Senate Bill 921 (S.L. 2024-58): the Senate passed it 30-19 on Dec. 2, 2024, and the House 73-45 on Dec. 11, 2024, mostly along party lines, with one House Democrat joining Republicans (NC General Assembly; Ballotpedia News). Supporters frame it as closing a gap left by the 2018 in-person-only ID amendment (WUNC).

Who supports it and why

Republican legislators, including Rep. Mike Schietzelt (R-Wake), say it "increases security, especially as mail-in ballot voting has increased" since the pandemic (WUNC).

Who opposes it and why

Rep. Pricey Harrison (D-Guilford) says the constitution "should be protected and not filled in with get-out-the-vote efforts" (WUNC). The League of Women Voters of NC opposes it because statute already covers mail-ballot ID, and worries constitutionalizing the requirement could remove flexibility protecting military, student, rural and older voters (LWVNC). Disability Rights NC warns deployed military voters cannot legally photocopy military IDs and that voters using the ID exception form face a higher ballot-rejection risk (Disability Rights NC).

Money

Ballotpedia had not identified a registered campaign committee for or against this specific measure as of this research (Ballotpedia News); opposition so far comes from advocacy groups, not a funded campaign.

What to watch

The Legislative Services Officer released official plain-language summaries of all three 2026 amendments on Sept. 15, 2026, under N.C.G.S. 147-54.10 (Sampson County government). Watch whether counties report a rise in rejected mail ballots once the ID-copy requirement carries constitutional weight.

What we couldn't find

The full text of the official Legislative Services Officer explanation (published only as images), and any independent legal analysis of how the amendment would interact with the existing statutory exception process.

Sources (8)