According to Politico, the three-judge panel from the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals were unanimous in their ruling that the Republican-controlled North Carolina legislature violated the U.S. Constitution and the Voting Rights Act three years ago by enacting policies that required voters to present certain types of photo ID in order to cast their ballots.
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A county judge in Kansas on Friday also issued a temporary order on a rule that required proof of USA 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.
In the North Carolina case, the 4th Circuit panel agreed with allegations that North Carolina’s omnibus bill selectively chose voter-ID requirements, reduced the number of early-voting days and changed registration procedures in ways meant to harm blacks, who overwhelmingly vote for the Democratic Party.
A federal appeals court has found that a North Carolina voter ID law was enacted “with discriminatory intent” and must be blocked.
The ruling, a victory for rights advocates that will enable thousands of people to vote more easily, is also likely to be seen as a boost for Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton going into the election on November 8.
There’s been a concerted effort by Republicans nationwide since President Barack Obama took place to peel back voting rights and laws improving access to the polls that had been in place since 1965, he said.
“Although the new provisions target African Americans with nearly surgical precision, they constitute inapt remedies for the problems assertedly justifying them and, in fact, impose cures for problems that did not exist”, said the panel.
The court, however, did not go so far as to return North Carolina to federal supervision under the Voting Rights Act. However, the ruling strikes down fairly significant portions of the voter ID law and some previous election laws that Republicans put in place.
Opponents of the law said the ruling should increase participation by black and Hispanic voters on Election Day in the state that also has closely contested races for U.S. Senate and governor. The state has decided not to appeal that ruling to the Supreme Court, and a district judge is to rule soon on what accommodations must be made.
Defense attorneys countered that the laws, all passed since Walker and Republicans took control of the Legislature in 2011, have not suppressed turnout and that the state works hard to ensure everyone who needs a free ID to vote gets one.
North Carolina legislators imposed the photo ID requirement, curtailed early voting and eliminated same-day registration and voters’ ability to cast out-of-precinct provisional ballots in their home counties.
Most strikingly, the judges point to a “smoking gun” in North Carolina’s justification for the law, proving discriminatory intent. The black voters of North Carolina have won a major victory and will now have a better chance of making a difference come November.
Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach talks about the Kansas voter ID law that he pushed to combat what he believes to be rampant voter fraud in the United States in his Topeka, Kansas, U.S., office May 12, 2016.
Shaw said the Court ultimately ruled that the state legislature created a solution to find a problem.
– No. 1: Republicans who crafted the law absolutely wanted to make it more hard for people who traditionally vote Democratic to cast a ballot, not only people of color, but poor people, the elderly and even the young.
Supporters of the law, like North Carolina Gov. She also said the law was not an issue during the March 15 primary and that voters seemed to have no problem complying. “We all lost. Republicans will continue to fight for ballot security until the war against voter fraud is won”, said NCGOP Executive Director Dallas Woodhouse in a statement.
The court claimed that the spike in Black voters participating in the states elections “swelled by 51.1 percent” between 2000 and 2012.
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The Rev. Moses Colbert said he couldn’t vote in 2014 because election officials lost his paperwork.
