4th Circuit Court of Appeals hands NAACP partial victory on voter ID law
RALEIGH (WTVD) -- The 4th Circuit Court of Appeals has reversed a federal district court's denial of a preliminary injunction on some parts of North Carolina's controversial new voter ID law.
The higher court will delay elimination of same-day registration and prohibition on counting out-of-precinct ballots.
"The court's order safeguards the vote for tens of thousands of North Carolinians. It means they will continue to be able to use same-day registration, just as they have during the last three federal elections," said Dale Ho, director of the ACLU's Voting Rights Project, in a statement.
But, the appeals court refused to issue a temporary injunction reducing early-voting days, the elimination of the discretion of county boards of elections to keep the polls open an additional hour on Election Day, the elimination of pre-registration of sixteen and seventeen-year-olds who will not be eighteen years old by the next general election, and the soft roll-out of voter identification requirements that will go into effect in 2016.
"With respect to these provisions, we conclude that, although Plaintiffs may ultimately succeed at trial, they have not met their burden of satisfying all elements necessary for a preliminary injunction," wrote the court in its opinion.
Click here to read the full opinion (.pdf)
The elections law approved by the GOP-led legislature and signed by Gov. Pat McCrory requires citizens to show one of several types of photo identification cards to vote by 2016. This year, voters only are being asked if they have an ID and told how to get one if they don't.
Critics of the law complain it also reduced early voting from 17 days to ten, ended same-day registration during the early-voting period and prohibited counting votes cast in the wrong precinct. Straight-party voting also ended.
The changes and the pending photo ID mandate have created a rallying cry for opponents of the Republican agenda at the General Assembly, anchoring the "Moral Monday" movement. It's also spawned four separate lawsuits - including three federal cases - that call the measure discriminatory to minority voters.
Republicans disagree the broader voting law is discriminatory. They point to numbers from the May primary showing overall black turnout was higher compared to 2010.
"I am pleased that the major parts of this popular and common sense bill were left intact and apply to the upcoming election. I have instructed our attorneys to appeal to the Supreme Court so that the two provisions rejected today can apply in the future and protect the integrity of our elections," said Governor Pat McCrory in a statement.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
