In Richmond, Virginia, the three-judge panel of the U.S. 4th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled unanimously on Friday that the North Carolina voter law violated the Constitution and the Voting Rights Act.
In the court’s decision, it is clearly stated that “since the 1980’s North Carolina’s legislature has attempted to suppress and dilute the voting rights of African Americans.” Regarding the state’s requirements for a voter identification card, the court pointed out the law was “too broad, enacting seemingly irrational restrictions unrelated to the goal of combating fraud.”
The ruling also cited the fact that North Carolina legislators were not able to come up with a single case where someone had been convicted of voter fraud using a voter ID card. The federal panel also pointed out that the two forms of identification the state required for getting a voter ID card were also “the very same forms of ID excluded by the law.”
The 83-page decision got to the core of the matter regarding the state’s reasoning behind the enactment of the voter ID law, saying the North Carolina legislature, in passing the voter ID bill used “party politics” to undo any advances made in voting rights in the state.
This ruling is a big win in the fight for voter’s rights, not just in North Carolina, but in the 17 states who have moved to restrict voting rights of minority voters. According to the Charlotte Observer, North Carolina voters will no longer be required to show a photo ID when voting, and 16- and 17-year-olds can once again pre-register to vote.
The case has been sent back to U.S. District Court Judge Thomas Schroeder, who in April issued a 485-page decision dismissing all claims in the legal challenge. At the same time, the decision was being lauded by the NAACP, ACLU and the countless advocates for equality of voter rights, the opposition was not happy.
Perhaps forgetting that the 2013 voter ID law was rushed through a Republican-held legislature in only three days, N.C. Senate leader Phil Berger, a Republican from Rockingham County, and state House Speaker Tim Moore, a Republican from Cleveland County, issued a joint statement on Friday. “Since today’s decision by three partisan Democrats ignores legal precedent, ignores the fact that other federal courts have used North Carolina’s law as a model, and ignores the fact that a majority of other states have similar protections in place, we can only wonder if the intent is to reopen the door for voter fraud, potentially allowing fellow Democrat politicians like Hillary Clinton and Roy Cooper to steal the election. 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. The limit on early voting was repealed, as was a requirement that voters must live in Wisconsin for 28 days before being allowed to vote, reports the Journal Sentinel.
Judge Peterson wrote: “The Wisconsin experience demonstrates that a preoccupation with mostly phantom election fraud leads to real incidents of disenfranchisement, which undermine rather than enhance confidence in elections, particularly in minority communities.”
“To put it bluntly, Wisconsin’s strict version of voter ID law is a cure worse than the disease,” Peterson added.
Friday’s 119-page decision comes just four months before the federal election. Praising the ruling, Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett said, “without a question,” the city would take advantage of the ruling. “Gov. (Scott) Walker and the Legislature wanted to create a bottleneck in the city of Milwaukee to make it more difficult for people to vote.”
Bottom line, both decisions, if appealed, could end up keeping Wisconsin’s and North Carolina’s restrictive voter ID laws in place. Of the 17 states with restrictive voter ID laws, three, Wisconsin, North Carolina and Texas have had their laws struck down.
