A federal judge on Monday upheld North Carolina’s voting requirements, ruling that the tough measures won’t impact African-American and other minority voters.
Critics blasted the law — which includes a photo identification requirement — as “regressive and discriminatory” and said it was intended to suppress minority turnout.
Federal District Court Judge Thomas D. Schroeder on Monday upheld a provision that ended same-day registration in the state and that requires voters to show a photo ID card, such as a driver’s license, in order to cast a ballot. The judge’s opinion also trimmed the early voting period by seven days and OK’d the repeal of a provision that allowed ballots cast outside a voter’s home precinct to count.
Schroeder dismissed the claim that African-Americans, among others, would be harmed by the law, which was passed by the state legislature in 2013.
He ruled that “minorities enjoy (an) equal and constitutionally compliant opportunity to participate in the electoral process” and that no evidence had been produced to show that African-Americans would be adversely impacted by the voting requirements.
North Carolina’s Republican Gov. Pat McCrory, who signed the law, issued a statement in support of the opinion.
“This ruling further affirms that requiring a photo ID in order to vote is not only common-sense, it’s constitutional,” he said. “Common practices like boarding an airplane and purchasing Sudafed require photo ID and thankfully a federal court has ensured our citizens will have the same protection for their basic right to vote.”
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The law’s opponents, including the Advancement Project, a civil rights organization, said that they plan to appeal.
“Just like those who carried on before us, we will continue our movement challenging regressive and discriminatory voter suppression tactics on behalf of African-Americans, Latinos, seniors, students and all those for whom democracy has been denied,” said Rev. William J. Barber II, president of the North Carolina NAACP in a statement.
If higher courts do not intervene, the changes in voting requirements will take effect this fall.
The ruling is the latest in response to the Supreme Court’s 2013 decision to eliminate a portion of the Voting Rights Act that required nine states to have federal approval before changing their laws.
The Justice Department filed a lawsuit in 2013 seeking to block parts of the North Carolina voting law.
Democrats had said the photo ID requirement didn’t include protections for voters who don’t have identification and that it disproportionately would affect minorities.