North Carolina voters used the November 3 midterm ballot to rewrite their own state constitution in three places at once. According to unofficial results from the North Carolina State Board of Elections, voters statewide approved all three constitutional amendments placed before them by the Republican-controlled General Assembly: a hard cap on the state income tax, a requirement that lawmakers limit how fast local governments can raise property taxes, and an expansion of the constitution's photo ID requirement so it covers mail voters as well as people voting in person. Public Radio East reported on November 4 that all three measures received majority support statewide, with the income-tax cap drawing the strongest backing of the three. The results are unofficial until election officials complete the county canvass and state certification.

Source: Public Radio East — North Carolina voters approve three constitutional amendments (Nov. 4, 2026)

Amendment one: an income-tax ceiling written into the constitution

The best-supported measure caps North Carolina's income tax in the constitution itself. Unofficial statewide results show 2,529,381 votes in favour and 1,556,525 against — nearly 62% support, The Assembly NC reported. The amendment lowers the maximum income-tax rate permitted under the state constitution from 7% to 3.5%, beginning with the 2027 tax year, and the limit applies to both individual and corporate income taxes. The cap's practical effect is restrictive rather than immediate: North Carolina's individual income-tax rate is currently 3.99% and is already scheduled to fall to 3.49% in 2027 under existing law. What the amendment changes is the future — no General Assembly will be able to raise the rate above 3.5% in later sessions without going back to voters to amend the constitution again.

Source: The Assembly NC — N.C. Voters Say Yes to Three State Constitutional Amendments (Nov. 4, 2026)

Amendment two: property-tax limits — with the hard part still to come

The second amendment, approved by roughly 60% of voters (2,463,634 for and 1,613,938 against in unofficial results), directs the General Assembly to establish limits on how much counties, cities and other local governments can increase property-tax levies. Crucially, the amendment itself does not set a number: it requires state lawmakers to pass legislation defining the specific cap and its exceptions later. The Assembly NC noted the same open question — the amendment does not define a specific cap on property taxes, and state lawmakers will determine that later. Public Radio East's county-level analysis also showed the measure was the most regionally uneven of the three: voters in Washington County, in the state's east, rejected it by 2,286 votes to 2,109 — only about 48% in favour — even as it passed comfortably statewide. County results do not decide a constitutional amendment, which needs only a statewide majority, but the split underlines that the coming legislative fight over the actual levy limit will land differently in different parts of the state.

Amendment three: photo ID for every voter, including by mail

The third amendment extends North Carolina's constitutional photo ID requirement beyond the polling place. Unofficial results show 2,434,689 votes in favour and 1,650,343 against — approximately 60% support. Until now, the constitution's voter ID language addressed people voting in person; identification for mail voting has been required under a separate state law, under which absentee voters since an April 2023 North Carolina Supreme Court ruling must include a photocopy of their photo ID with a mailed ballot or complete an ID Exception Form. The amendment changes the constitutional language to cover all voters, cementing the mail-voting requirement in the constitution itself, where an ordinary statute change in Raleigh cannot undo it. The Assembly NC described the measure the same way: almost 60% of voters agreed to cement existing legislation requiring all voters, not just those casting ballots in person, to show photo ID.

How the amendments got on the ballot

All three measures were placed on the ballot by the Republican-controlled General Assembly. Under North Carolina's rules, a constitutional amendment must first win approval from three-fifths of lawmakers and then a majority of voters — both hurdles were cleared on November 3. The measures were already popular before a single ballot was cast: an Elon University Poll conducted from August 21 to 31 among likely voters found 63% in favour of the photo ID amendment, 67% for lowering the income-tax maximum to 3.5%, and 72% for requiring limits on property-tax increases. The final margins — roughly 60 to 62% — came in below those poll numbers for the tax measures but in line for voter ID, a reminder that ballot language and turnout shape how pre-election support converts into constitutional text.

What it means for households — including the state's growing Punjabi community

For North Carolina households, the three votes pull in the same direction: less room for government to raise revenue, and a firmer ID rule at the ballot box. The income-tax cap locks in the state's low flat-tax trajectory just as the rate steps down to 3.49% in 2027, limiting future legislatures facing budget pressure. The property-tax amendment promises restraint on the levies that fund counties and cities, but its real impact depends entirely on the cap the General Assembly now has to write — and on the exceptions it carves out. The voter ID amendment matters most directly to anyone who votes by mail, including immigrant and diaspora voters: the photocopy-or-exception-form routine that has applied under statute since 2023 is now a constitutional requirement, so mail voters should expect it to be permanent. North Carolina's Punjabi and wider South Asian communities — concentrated around Raleigh-Durham, Charlotte and the Triad, with many families in trucking, retail and small business — will feel all three through the same household budgets as every other voter in the state.

EdNC's final unofficial tally, with all precincts reporting, put the three measures at 59.60% for photo ID, 61.91% for the income-tax cap and 60.43% for the property-tax limit — figures consistent with the State Board of Elections counts reported by Public Radio East and The Assembly NC.

Source: EdNC — Live updates: 2026 North Carolina midterm election results