It has been widely reported that the new majorities in NC's House and Senate would like to pass a law requiring North Carolina voters to bring a government issued photo ID to the polls in order to vote. Today, however, it was revealed in an internal review conducted by the State Board of Elections that 700,000 to 1,000,000 North Carolina voters do not have a driver’s license or photo ID issued by the NC Division of Motor Vehicles. If a bill to require a state government issued ID at the polls were to pass, all of these voters would be out of luck unless they had the time, money, and documents necessary to get a state issued photo ID. According to the State Elections Director, there were only 18 reported cases of repeat voting in 2008 out of millions of votes cast. In fact, it is more likely that an American will be struck by lightning than commit voter fraud making this proposal seem like a bit of an over-kill. More importantly, voting is a fundamental Constitutional right and any additional burdens on this right must be weighed against the likelihood that it may prevent many lawful voters from exercising their right without satisfying any real government or societal need. Instead of focusing on efforts to increase voter turn-out and help citizens exercise their rights, this proposal focuses on an almost non-existent problem while potentially sacrificing the voting rights of one million North Carolinians.