Cherokee issues first medical ID cards; tribe continues to work on product transport plan 

Although voters approved a 2018 ballot measure requiring photo identification at North Carolina polls, voters won’t have to produce IDs during either the March 3 Primary Election or the Nov. 3 General Election. 

Legislation implementing North Carolina’s first-ever voter ID requirement passed both the House and the Senate Dec. 6, but a veto by Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper had Republicans scrambling back to the legislative chambers to override it before their power to do so evaporated. 

North Carolinians will be asked this November to weigh in on the controversial issue of voter ID if a bill introduced June 7 by Rep. Michele Presnell, R-Burnsville, gains approval. 

By Kurt J. Volker • Contributing Writer

A program designed to offer free I.D. cards to Macon County veterans for discounted goods and services by participating businesses should be underway shortly, according to Register of Deeds Todd Raby.

The two-year journey from the primaries to the polls is almost over – but not until you cast your vote! Follow along with this handy guide to make sure you have what it takes to make your voice heard.

A request by Gov. Pat McCrory to reinstate North Carolina’s 2013 voter identification requirement and shortened early voting period was denied by the U.S. Supreme Court last week.

North Carolinians can debate whether a few of the controversial laws enacted by the Republican-led North Carolina General Assembly and supported by Gov. Pat McCrory are unconstitutional or not, but it seems the courts are leaning toward striking them down. 

More importantly, perhaps, are that the legal challenges keep landing Democratic gubernatorial candidate and state Attorney General Roy Cooper on the front pages of many of the state’s newspapers. Indeed, the controversy over these laws may just help Cooper unseat McCrory from the governor’s office, which would be a positive step for North Carolina.

Ruling that North Carolina’s 2013 voter identification law purposely targets African-Americans with “almost surgical precision,” the U. S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit struck down the measure last Friday, stating that there was evidence that “because of race, the legislature enacted one of the largest restrictions of the franchise in modern North Carolina history.”

Local election officials say the March 15 primary election ran fairly smoothly despite having to implement the new voter ID law for the first time.