“This morning we filed our Notice of Appeal,” said Advancement Project Co-Director Penda Hair. “That is the first step in taking this case to the Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit.”
The announcement comes less than 24 hours after Federal District Judge Thomas D. Schroeder issued a long-awaited ruling upholding the law Monday evening. Judge Schroeder’s 485-page ruling marked the end of a two-part trial that stretched over 21 days in July 2015 and January 2016.
Signed into law by Gov. Pat McCrory in 2013, VIVA is a far-reaching overhaul of North Carolina election rules. It’s numerous provisions ended same-day voting registration, cut seven days from the state’s early voting calendar, prohibited out-of-precinct ballots and cancelled a program to pre-register 16 and 17-year-olds.
It’s best-known provision requires voters to present one of six state-approved photo IDs at the polls.
Rev. Dr. William J. Barber II, president of the North Carolina chapter of the NAACP, called the ruling “almost 500 pages of rationalization” for the law during a media conference call Tuesday. He said that while VIVA had frequently been referred to as a “voter ID” law in press accounts, it’s repeal of same-day registration, cuts to early voting and elimination of out-of-precinct ballots set “a very dangerous precedent.”
Barber called North Carolina “the epicenter” of a fight “for whether we go forwards or backwards.”
Supporters of the law say it adds important safeguards to the election process.
Attorney Irving Joyner said the legal team would ask the Fourth Circuit to “review and reverse” Judge Schroeder’s decision.
This will not be the first time the Fourth Circuit has been asked to rule on the 2013 law. In 2014 the Appeals Court granted a temporary injunction restoring same-day registration and out-of-precinct voting in North Carolina for the primary election, partially overturning a ruling by Judge Schroeder that denied a preliminary injunction.
Judge Schroeder’s Monday night ruling left the restored same-day registration and out-of-precinct voting in place until after North Carolina’s June 2016 primary.
“It is of note that the injunction that the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals issued has been continued by Judge Schroeder until June of this year,” Joyner said.
The legal team said they would offer more details of the appeal in future conferences.
“We are still poring over the opinion,” said Glick. “We are still identifying the grounds on which we appeal, but we look forward to our day in court before the Fourth Circuit.”
