Civitas Poll: NC Voters Support Laws Protecting Elections | Eastern North Carolina Now

    Publisher's note: This post, by Susan Myrick, was originally published in the Elections & Voting section of Civitas's online edition.

    The most recent Civitas Poll shows North Carolina voters strongly support laws protecting the integrity and stature of the election process.

    "North Carolinians recognize the importance of fair and honest elections, and they strongly support the steps needed to protect the process," said Susan Myrick, Elections Policy Analyst for the Civitas Institute. "Voters say photo ID at the polls is very valuable in protecting the integrity of the ballot box, and almost all of them have such ID."

    Seventy-six percent of the respondents said that voters should not be allowed to register and then vote on the same day without providing a valid photo ID that includes the voter's current address. Recent legislation has put an end to the practice of Same Day Registration.

    Text of selected questions*:

    Do you believe people in North Carolina should be required to prove their U.S. citizenship when they attempt to register to vote?**

82%	Yes
16%	No
3%	Don't Know/ Refused

    Do you personally have some form of photo ID issued by a government agency, such as a driver's license, passport or military ID?

99%	Yes
1%	No

    When it comes to the issue of voter fraud in North Carolina, which opinion comes closest to your own opinion:

27%	There is virtually no voter fraud in North Carolina. Laws like requiring photo ID are unnecessary because there is no vote fraud to prevent.
64%	Voter fraud in North Carolina is a real threat to the integrity of our elections and therefore requiring a photo ID is justified and logical.
9%	Don't know/ Refused

    Should a person be allowed to register and then vote on the same day without providing a valid photo ID that includes the voter's current address?

20%	Yes
76%	No
4%	Don't Know/ Refused

    Will requiring all voters to show a photo ID to vote give you more confidence in election results?

65%	Yes
32%	No
2%	Don't Know/ Refused

    As you may know, North Carolina does not currently require a government-issued photo ID in order to vote, but voter ID will be required beginning in next year's election. Do you believe the requirement to show ID to vote will be more likely to...

62%	Stop voter fraud
27%	Prevent eligible voters from casting a ballot
6%	Neither/ No Difference
4%	Undecided
1%	Refused

    *Total may not add up to 100 due to rounding.

    ** This question was released previously by Civitas.

    Crosstabs here.

    About the poll: This poll of 600 registered voters in North Carolina was conducted Feb. 24-26, 2015 by National Research, Inc., of Holmdel, NJ. All respondents were part of a fully representative sample of registered general election voters in North Carolina. Thirty percent of the respondents were cell phone-only users. For purposes of this study, voters interviewed had to have voted in at least one of the past two general elections (2012, 2014) or be newly registered to vote since November 1, 2014. The confidence interval associated with a sample of this size is such that: 95 percent of the time, results from 600 interviews (registered voters) will be within +-4% of the "True Values."

    Civitas conducts the only regular live-caller polling of North Carolina voters. For more information on Civitas polling, see http://www.nccivitas.org/category/poll/.