Public comment invited on legislation to require photo ID for voters

The Restore Confidence in Government legislation (HB 351/SB 352) now pending in the General Assembly will be the subject of a House Committee on Elections hearing tomorrow at 1 p.m., according to Rep. Tim Moffitt’s office, and public comment on the bill is still being received. To send comments, click here.

Key provisions of the bill include a photo ID requirement for voters; limiting the chair of the State Board of Elections to two terms of two years each; requiring liability of candidates for civil penalties for campaign finance violations; prohibiting piece-work payment for voter registration drives; and preventing conflict of interest and its appearance involving political contributions by state contractors. To see the full text, click here.

The House version of the bill is co-sponsored by Moffitt, a Buncombe County Republican; one of the Senate version’s primary sponsors is WNC Republican Ralph Hise, with co-sponsorship including Tom Apodaca, Republican of Hendersonville whose district contains a portion of Buncombe County, and Jim Davis, Republican of Franklin.

by Nelda Holder, contributing editor

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3 thoughts on “Public comment invited on legislation to require photo ID for voters

  1. annied

    This legislation is costly and unnecessary. While parts of it sound sooooo gooood, the reality is it infringes on the right of the citizen to vote and puts the burden on the elderly and poor. In fact, there is no evidence of voter fraud that would warrant such an expense, especially when this State is poised to lay off thousands of teachers and public service employees.
    Shame on you for trying to manipulate a perfectly acceptable system !!

  2. uh-oh

    Let us hassle everyone equally and require picture i.d. on the voter registration card paid for by taxpayers. Aren’t most peoples wallets thinner now? There is bound to be room for one more card.

    When you go to vote pin it to your shirt with a flag pin. Keep another flag pin in reserve to attach the list (of worthy judges list someone shoves at you on the sidewalk) to the bill of your hat.

  3. Barry Summers

    This is straight out of the voter-suppression handbook: Make it harder for Democratic-leaning demographics to vote. 500,000 active NC voters DON’T have a state-issued ID. Most of them are in Democratic-leaning groups. Hey, funny thing – Obama only carried North Carolina by 14,000 votes… Yeah? get it? uh-huh! yeah!!…

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