Updated April 10, 2024. This visualizer is in beta and may change.
For North Carolina’s large and diverse student population, using a student ID to vote makes voting less complicated. However, not all student IDs can be used as voter photo ID. Why? For a student ID to be acceptable for voting, the school – public or private universities and colleges – must obtain approval from the State Board of Elections.
After the State Board’s 2023 application period, 61 schools across North Carolina received approvals for using their student IDs to vote in the 2023 and 2024 elections. Yet, over 70 other schools – primarily community colleges and private schools – have not applied for or received approval from the State Board.
Southern Coalition for Social Justice, in partnership with Democracy North Carolina, has created the College Voter ID Visualizer to show the distribution of North Carolina’s student population and which schools have or have not obtained approval for their student IDs.
In preparation for the general elections, the State Board has opened a new 2024 application period for schools that have not applied for their student IDs to be approved for voting. The period to apply is from April 1 to June 14. This is expected to be the final opportunity for schools to apply before the Nov. 5 election. More information on the approval process is here.
If your school has not received approval yet, we encourage you to contact your campus administrators about the importance of student IDs for making your voice count in 2024 and ask them to apply.
Students, parents, and school administrators may also call the NC Election Protection Hotline 888-OUR-VOTE (888-687-8683) for more information about student voting in North Carolina.