What ID do I need to vote in North Carolina?

Accepted IDs include an NC driver's license, NC non-operator ID, U.S. passport or passport card, NC county voter photo ID card, approved student or public-employee photo IDs, and, regardless of expiration, military or veterans IDs and tribal enrollment cards. Most IDs must be unexpired or expired one year or less. An out-of-state license or ID is accepted only if the voter registered within 90 days.

On April 24, 2025, the State Board approved nearly 100 student and employee photo identification cards for use in the 2025 municipal elections and the 2026 primary and general elections, valid through December 31, 2026. The approved list includes student IDs from all UNC System schools and many other colleges, plus employee IDs from educational institutions, county and local governments, and charter schools, all of which must bear a photograph.

A voter who is 65 or older may use an expired form of acceptable photo ID if that ID was unexpired on the voter's 65th birthday.

A voter without acceptable photo ID may vote a provisional ballot after completing a Photo ID Exception Form declaring a reasonable impediment. Enumerated impediments include lack of transportation, disability or illness, lack of a birth certificate or other required documents, work schedule, family responsibilities, lost or stolen ID, ID applied for but not yet received, and other reasonable impediment.

A voter who votes a provisional ballot because they lack an acceptable photo ID may still have it counted by bringing acceptable ID to their county board of elections office by noon on the fifth business day after Election Day.

A voter casts a provisional ballot when questions arise about eligibility or when they do not or cannot present photo ID in person. The voter receives a Provisional Identification Number to check status through the Provisional Search tool no earlier than 10 days after the election, and a ballot is partially counted for the contests the voter was eligible to vote in. The State Board provides an online search at vt.ncsbe.gov and a phone line.

North Carolina's photo voter ID requirement first took effect in the fall 2023 municipal elections and the March 5, 2024, primary; the November 2024 general election was described as the requirement's first major test. Voters approved the underlying constitutional amendment in 2018 with about 55 percent of the vote, and the legislature passed implementing legislation.

On April 28, 2023, the North Carolina Supreme Court upheld the state's 2018 photo voter ID law in Holmes v. Moore, reversing two rulings from the prior year that had struck the law down as unconstitutional. The reversal came after two new justices elected in 2022 shifted the court to a Republican majority.