By 2016, college students and citizens in North Carolina will have to adhere to new policies in regards to voting.

By way of a Youtube video, Governor Pat McCrory announced in August that he signed House Bill 589. “Common practices like boarding an airplane and purchasing Sudafed require photo ID, and we should expect nothing less for the protection of our right to vote,” the governor said.

The bill will require voters to show photo identification at polling sites. However, only military ID cards, a valid driver’s license, passports, and tribal cards will be accepted. Student identification cards will not be an acceptable form.

Eliminating the use of student ID cards as an acceptable form of identification forces students to not vote in the county of which their campus is located. College students must request an absentee ballot from the precinct of their permanent address or parents may pay a $2,500 fee so that their child may vote out of their district. It is also unclear if students will be able to use their on-campus addresses as their permanent residence in order to get a DMV issued ID.

“I think voter ID is a way to suppress the voice of the youth and rewind the clock of our state by 50 years,” said Sasasha Flemming, a junior African-American studies major. “The restrictions that are in VIVA are similar to those that were implemented in the 60’s.” VIVA stands for Voter Identification Verification Act, another name for HB 589.

Cardes Brown, the president of Greensboro’s NAACP branch said that the legislation restricts students from being allowed to vote in cities where their colleges and universities are.

“Students in essence are really not allowed to vote in areas where they should be permitted to vote,” Brown said. He feels that students are affected by the decisions that are made in Guilford county and that they should be able to take place in the voting process.

Although the bill provides a “free ID” to be offered at nearby DMV’s, the state estimates that between 203,351 and 318,643 voters registered in North Carolina lack an ID, and that providing them with one would cost  $834,200 in 2013 and 2014, and $24,100 every two years after that.

Just hours after McCory’s signature, the ACLU of North Carolina and other groups filed a lawsuit against the bill, charging that it violates the Constitution’s equal protection clause and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. The North Carolina NAACP and Advancement Project followed shortly after, filing another lawsuit.

HBD 589 also eliminates same-day registration, ends pre-registration for 16 and 17-year-olds and reduces early voting by a week.

Since 2007, same day registration allowed voters to register and vote during the early voting period. Beginning January 2014, voters will need to be registered 25 days before the voting date.

“I think the voters will be hurt by it,” said Guilford County Director of Elections, Charlie Collicutt. “We will have a lot of people that are going to show up and after six years of allowing citizens to register during early voting, we will have to tell people that they cannot vote.”

“That’s going to be a transition for our staff to do. It was a safety net, and now it’s not there anymore,” Collicutt said.

Preparation has begun for November’s local elections.

Collicutt said that when college students vote they are declaring that they have a voice in the city. “Whether its water rates or trash rates, these are the people that have the most say in your daily life. A lot of people attach importance to the presidential race, but the city council are the ones that have more of a say on what goes on in your daily life.”

 Brown feels that this is a very critical election. “Our city council has dealt with a number of issues that will have long lasting effects upon the African American community,” he said. “And there are indications that if we do not as a community participate in this election with respect to numbers, it will show up even more than any time in the past after the election.”

• LACI OLLISON, Register Reporter