Late Wednesday, the Supreme Court refused to do that, with the justices split, for the most part, 4-to-4, with the Court’s most conservative justices falling one vote shy of the five votes it takes to block a lower court decision.
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The law, adopted days after the Supreme Court effectively struck down sections 4 and 5 of the Voting Rights Act in Shelby County v. Holder, requires voters to present a government-issued photo identification before casting ballots. Pat McCrory and state officials to delay a permanent injunction blocking provisions in a 2013 voting law.
The outcome was a major victory for the Obama administration, the Justice Department and a wide groups of civil rights organizations that challenged North Carolina’s law, which was one of the country’s most far-reaching. The Associated Press reports that the law also eliminated same-day voter registration and out-of-precinct voting, while also reducing the number of early-voting days.
There were no surprises in how Twin Counties lawmakers reacted to the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision not to reinstate North Carolina’s voter ID law for the upcoming election.
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“Hundreds of thousands of North Carolinians will now be able to vote without barriers”, Allison Riggs, an attorney representing some of the groups and voters who originally sued over the 2013 law, said in a news release.
They said arguments by the state were misguided that making voting rules different in the general election compared to the primaries would cause confusion.
McCrory and Republican legislative leaders have said voter ID is a commonsense requirement to increase the integrity of elections.
Then, the NAACP, Department of Justice and others filed suit saying it made it more hard for minorities to vote. Additionally, some proposed plans restricted Sunday voting, which are popular among African American voters who participate in “soul to poll” church drives. Other states also implemented more restrictive voting laws in recent years, and a number of them were successfully challenged.
Citing the approaching date of the election, Clement asked the court only to reinstate three provisions of the law before the next election. These changes still need to be reviewed by the State Board of Elections, but that board is dominated by Republicans.
The high court rejected the state’s bid to halt much of the federal appeals court ruling, splitting 4-4 along ideological lines on the central questions.
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Wednesday’s ruling is markedly different from a ruling issued by the Supreme Court in 2008, when it recognized the threat of voter fraud and upheld Indiana’s photo ID requirement as a legitimate, non-discriminatory means to prevent voter fraud. The Republican-imposed limits, the appellate court found, targeted African-American voters “with nearly surgical precision”. A North Carolina Republican, Roehm cast two ballots, one for herself and one for her dead husband. Democratic vice presidential nominee Tim Kaine also will be in the state next Tuesday, giving what’s billed as a national security speech in Wilmington, while running mate Hillary Clinton is scheduled to be in Charlotte Thursday for a fundraiser.
