North Carolina judge won’t prevent use of university digital IDs for voting

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — A North Carolina trial judge refused on Thursday a Republican Party request that he block students and employees at the state’s flagship public university from being able to show a digital identification to comply with a largely new photo ID law.

Wake County Superior Court Judge Keith Gregory denied a temporary restraining order sought by the Republican National Committee and state GOP, according to an online court record posted after a hearing. The ruling can be appealed.

The groups sued last week to halt the use of the mobile UNC One Card at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill as a qualifying ID, saying state law only allows the State Board of Elections to approve physical cards.

The mobile UNC One Card was approved Aug. 20 by the board’s Democratic majority, marking the first such ID posted from someone’s smartphone that the board has OK’d.

The Democratic National Committee and a UNC-Chapel Hill student group joined the board in court to oppose the restraining order. They said the board rightly determined that the digital ID met the security and photo requirements set in state law in which to qualify.

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