Case Summary
The Republican National Committee (RNC) and the North Carolina Republican Party filed a complaint on Sept. 12 to stop University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC) students from using their digital Mobile One Cards as identification cards to vote in the 2024 election. The RNC lost the case at the Superior Court level and appealed to the North Carolina State Court of Appeals.
Southern Coalition for Social Justice (SCSJ) filed an amicus brief urging the Court of Appeals to reject the case. SCSJ filed the amicus with Fair Elections Center on behalf of Fair Elections Center and Professor Gunther Peck of the Sanford School of Public Policy at Duke University. The court ultimately sided with the RNC and rejected the amicus.
Why it's Important
Students' ability to use digital ID cards is essential to their ability to participate in elections, as students are less likely to possess other forms of acceptable photo ID. For instance, in 2021, only 60% of 18-year-old students had a driver's license, as compared to 90% of people over the age of 35.
The sudden reversal on the approval of the UNC Mobile One Card is likely to upend the voting plans of many students and risks silencing their voices in the upcoming election.
