Voter ID seminars to take place Thursday

Voters in Lenoir County will have the chance to learn more about North Carolina’s new voter ID requirements this week.

The Lenoir County Board of Elections will host two seminars to educate the public and elections workers about the voter photo identification requirements, set to go into effect in 2020. Lenoir County Board of Elections Supervisor Amy Morgan said the State Board of Elections is sending a representative to conduct the seminars, which will be held at the Lenoir County Cooperative Extension Building on Thursday.

“They will educate on the laws about photo ID and how it will start in 2020,” Morgan said. “I encourage anybody that doesn’t understand [the law] or has any questions and wants to know about the law to go. We have asked all our poll workers to attend.”

Morgan said the State Board of Elections is ensuring at least two sessions are held in each county in N.C. during 2019. Jones County Elections Director Jennifer King said her county held two sessions towards the end of May, but they did not attract much attention from citizens.

Greene County Elections Director Trey Cash said the first session held in Greene County took place May 21, and he was pleased with the turnout.

“A lot of citizens from Greene County attended. After the presentation, the presenter from the State Board of Elections answered all the questions that our citizens had,” Cash said.

Cash said he hopes anyone who did not attend the first session will make plans to attend the second session scheduled in Greene County for August.

In the meantime, Cash said anyone without a photo ID who is a registered voter in Greene County can get a free voter ID card printed at the Board of Elections office.

The upcoming seminars in Lenoir County will take place Thursday from 10 a.m.-noon and from 6-8 p.m. at the Lenoir County Cooperative Extension Office, 1791 Hwy 11-55 in Kinston.

The next session in Greene County will take place Aug. 6 at 7 p.m. at the Greene County Board of Elections Office, 110 SE 1st St. in Snow Hill.