Ruby McClellan, a UNC-Chapel Hill freshman, registered to vote in November. She has a New York license, so she cast a provisional ballot last Saturday. At the same time, other students with out-of-state licenses were able to register on site and vote without the same ID questions. Out-of-state licenses are acceptable when voters register within 90 days of an election.
McClellan said an elections worker told her she could not vote because she didn’t have valid identification. She asked why she wasn’t offered a provisional ballot.
“He was really annoyed,” McClellan said, but she eventually cast a provisional ballot.
“If you can prove that I’m a registered voter on your computer, why can I not vote?” she said. “I’m bummed that my first time getting to vote I don’t even know if my vote counts until 10 days after the election.”
Under the rules, everyone should be offered a ballot, said Tracy Reams, Orange County elections director.
Ballots cast provisionally are set aside and checked by local elections staff to resolve questions about registration, to confirm that voters cast the correct partisan ballot if they are registered with a party, and to see if they presented acceptable ID or offered reasons why they didn’t. The local board of elections votes whether to accept those ballots based on staff recommendations.
The law’s list of reasonable impediments includes: lack of transportation, disability or illness, lack of a birth certificate or other documents needed to obtain photo identification, a lost or stolen ID, work schedule, family responsibilities, photo ID applied for but not received, and “other.” A voter checking “other” must describe the impediment, but can say that state or federal law prohibits listing it.