Appeals court: North Carolina voter ID law unconstitutional

First, and perhaps most significantly, a partially divided panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit invalidated a 2013 North Carolina law that required voter ID and limited early voting, based on evidence that the law was created to reduce African American voter turnout. But Friday’s ruling by a panel of three judges on the appeals court, each appointed by Democratic presidents, stated Schroeder “seems to have missed the forest in carefully surveying the many trees”. Of the 17 states with restrictive voter ID laws, three, Wisconsin, North Carolina and Texas have had their laws struck down.

Fox recalled as a young man he and other African-Americans would be required to recite the constitution before being allowed to cast a ballot – one of several state laws which were struck down by the Voting Rights Act of 1965. “Yet, three Democratic judges are undermining the integrity of our elections while also maligning our state”, McCrory said in a statement.

“With surgical precision, North Carolina tried to eliminate voting practices disproportionately used by African Americans”, wrote Dale Ho, head of the ACLU’s Voting Rights Project.

Voting is the single most basic right in our democracy, and it is one that should be encouraged and defended, not restricted. North Carolina is considered a key swing state, where African-American voters have played an increasing role in making it competitive. “It’s a powerful precedent that…federal courts will protect voting rights of voters of color”. “It is a major victory for North Carolina voters and for voting rights”. But time and time again, scholars and legal experts have found that the type of fraud these laws are meant to combat is largely nonexistent.

Rev. William Barber, head of the NAACP and Moral Monday organizer was an ardent opponent of the Voter ID requirement and had said that opposition to it was “our Selma”.

In addition to requiring photo identification when voting, North Carolina’s bill also cut early voting days and banned same-day voter registration.

“The legislature amended the bill to exclude numerous alternative photo IDs used by African-Americans (and) retained only the kinds of IDs that white North Carolinians were more likely to possess”, the ruling reads.

North Carolina legislators eliminated same-day voter registration, rolled back a week of early voting and put an end to out-of-precinct voting.

“We recognize that elections have consequences, but winning an election does not empower anyone in any party to engage in purposeful racial discrimination”, Motz wrote.

This was the third federal court ruling against voter identification laws this month. We will obviously be appealing this politically-motivated decision to the Supreme Court.”Wisconsin voter ID law decision While U.S. District Court Judge James Peterson did not reject the whole Wisconsin voter ID law, he did repeal large chunks of it”.

In the North Carolina case, “We can only conclude that the North Carolina General Assembly enacted the challenged provisions of the law with discriminatory intent”, Judge Diana Gribbon Motz wrote for the majority.

A county judge in Kansas on Friday also issued a temporary order on a rule that required proof of US citizenship to vote in state and local races, a move that could allow up to 50,000 additional people to cast ballots in November, according to the AP. I think we will see more people voting than if these restrictions were still in place.

And in Kansas, a state judged ruled on Friday that the state must count potentially thousands of votes in state and lower-tier races from people who registered without providing citizenship documents.

“There is no right that is more precious in a free country”, said Shawnee County District Judge Larry Hendricks, who rendered the decision on Friday.

The ruling was a response to Kansas Secretary of State Kris Krobach’s proposed rule to prevent illegal residents from voting. Counsel for the state are reviewing options on appeal.

Similarly in Kansas, which traditionally votes Republican, a judge ordered the state to count thousands of votes in local and state elections from people who did not provide proof of U.S. citizenship when they registered.