4th Circuit Court of Appeals enjoins part of North Carolina’s ‘worst voter suppression law’ in the nation

Ari Berman at The Nation posts on today’s voting rights victory in the state of North Carolina. Voting Rights Victory in North Carolina:

Last year, North Carolina passed the most sweeping voting restrictions since the passage of the Voting Rights Act in 1965.

Civil rights groups like the North Carolina NAACP and ACLU asked the courts for an injunction against three major parts of the law before the midterms—a reduction in early voting by a week, the elimination of same-day registration during the early voting period and a prohibition on counting ballots accidentally cast in the wrong precinct. In early August, District Court Judge Thomas Schroeder denied the injunction, saying the plaintiffs had not proven “irreparable harm.”

Voting-RightsTwo of three judges on the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals overruled parts of Schroeder’s ruling today, reinstating same-day registration and the counting of out-of-precinct ballots for 2014.

In not-so-good news for voting rights, the appeals court also upheld: “(i) the reduction of early-voting days; (ii) the expansion of allowable voter challengers; (iii) the elimination of the discretion of county boards of elections to keep the polls open an additional hour on Election Day in “extraordinary circumstances”; (iv) the elimination of pre-registration of sixteen- and seventeen-year-olds who will not be eighteen years old by the next general election; and (v) the soft roll-out of voter identification requirements to go into effect in 2016.”

“With respect to these provisions, we conclude that, although Plaintiffs may ultimately succeed at trial, they have not met their burden of satisfying all elements necessary for a preliminary injunction,” wrote Judges James Wynn and Henry Floyd, two Obama appointees.

The restoration of same-day registration and out-of-precinct voting is an important victory for voters in North Carolina. Nearly 100,000 North Carolinians used same-day registration in 2012, including twice as many blacks as whites.

Roughly 7,500 voters also cast their ballots in the wrong precinct but right county in 2012. Judge Wynn noted during oral arguments that he lived next door to a voting precinct, but was registered to vote at one a few miles away, which was highly confusing for voters.

“Why doesn’t North Carolina want people to vote?” he asked the state.

Over 450 voters were disenfranchised by the elimination of these reforms in the May primary, including an army veteran returning from Afghanistan.

“Plaintiffs presented undisputed evidence showing that same-day registration and out-of-precinct voting were enacted to increase voter participation, that African American voters disproportionately used those electoral mechanisms, and that House Bill 589 restricted those mechanisms and thus disproportionately impacts African American voters,” wrote Judge Wynn.

This is also an important victory for voting rights nationally after a series of bad decisions recently.

On Monday, the Supreme Court ruled against early voting in Ohio just sixteen hours before it was set to begin.

On September 13, a panel of three Republican judges on the 7th Circuit immediately reinstated Wisconsin’s voter ID law, which had been blocked for over two years, weeks before the election, causing electoral chaos in the state.

 The victory in North Carolina could be short-lived if the state appeals to the U.S. Supreme Court. Either way, there will be a full trial on the totality of the new voting restrictions in July 2015.

For a detailed legal analysis of the opinion, see Rick Hasen at Election Law Blog. Breaking: 4th Circuit, on 2-1 Vote, Partially Blocks NC Voting Changes: Analysis.

1 thought on “4th Circuit Court of Appeals enjoins part of North Carolina’s ‘worst voter suppression law’ in the nation”

  1. In 2008 democrats should have made voter protection their number one goal instead of their special interest projects. In 2010 the republiscum new what to go after stop democrats from voting. Democrats whine republiscum act! Trying to stop democrats from voting should be treated as treason.

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