N.C. sued soon after voter ID bill signed into law

[struggle4progress]

By Phil Hirschkorn
CBS News
August 12, 2013, 8:47 PM

... Rosanell Eaton, a 92-year-old black woman from Louisburg, N.C., and registered to vote since the 1940s, is the lead plaintiff in a lawsuit filed Monday in the Middle District of North Carolina by the NAACP and the Advancement Project.

"Mrs. Eaton, who was born at home, has a current North Carolina driver's license, but the name on her certified birth certificate does not match the name on her driver's license or the name on her voter registration card," the lawsuit said. "Mrs. Eaton will incur substantial time and expense to correct her identification documents to match her voter registration record in order to meet the new requirements."

The lawsuit seeks relief under Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, which bans voting procedures that discriminate on the basis of race, and under the 14th and 15th amendments of the Constitution. The recent Supreme Court ruling limited reviews under formulas in Sections 4 and 5 of the VRA.

Beyond the ID requirements, the new North Carolina law reduces the number of days for early voting from 17 to 10, even though 61 percent of state voters cast ballots early in 2012. McCrory said the law calls for the total early voting hours to remain the same by asking county board of elections to increase the number of early voting sites and hours open each day ...

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-250_162-57598224/lawsuits-hit-n.c-as-soon-as-voter-id-bill-signed-into-law/

[struggle4progress]

1. NC governor signs measure requiring voter ID

August 13, 2013
Associated Press

... The American Civil Liberties Union joined two other groups in announcing that they were filing suit against key parts of the package. This came hours after Republican Gov. Pat McCrory said in a statement that he had signed the measure, without a ceremony and without journalists present ...

"It is a trampling on the blood, sweat and tears of the martyrs — black and white — who fought for voting rights in this country," said the Rev. William Barber, president of the state chapter of the NAACP, which is pressing its own legal challenge. "It puts McCrory on the wrong side of history" ...

http://www.lakeplacidnews.com/page/content.detail/id/357787/NC-governor-signs-measure-requiring-voter-ID.html?isap=1&nav=5069

[freshwest]

16. K & R

[struggle4progress]

2. North Carolina governor signs voter ID bill

Posted on Monday, August 12, 2013
By ROB CHRISTENSEN AND JIM MORRILL
The News & Observer (Raleigh, N.C.)

... Just hours after McCrory signed the bill, two separate lawsuits challenging the law were filed in federal court in Greensboro. A third lawsuit is expected to be filed in state court Tuesday. Congressman G.K. Butterfield also asked U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder to "take swift and decisive action by using any legal mechanisms" to protect North Carolina's voting rights.

"With one stroke of the pen, McCrory has effectively reversed 30 years of progress and reinstated practices similar to the discriminatory 'Southern Strategy' adopted by the Republican Party in the '60s and '70s," said Butterfield, a former North Carolina Supreme Court justice. "Without question, today is a shameful day for Republicans in North Carolina."

In a speech last month, Holder said his office was going to challenge a Texas voter identification law and made it clear his office would not stop with Texas.

"Even as Congress considers updates to the Voting Rights Act in light of the court's ruling, we plan ... to fully utilize the law's remaining sections to ensure that the voting rights of all American citizens are protected," he said ..

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2013/08/12/199165/north-carolina-governor-signs.html

[freshwest]

17. I've never quite been sure what the ruling did othe than eliminate the Southern aspects.

They were the worst and have regressed again; but the whole country has problems.

I hope the elections reform tObama spoke of in the SOTU will be for such things as more federal regulation of elections that affect D.C. (federal senators, representatives, POTUS) and work to make a holiday for elections such as other nations do.

And for goodness' sakes, please push however possible some basic civics! So many people don't even know what the laws are or what they mean, the history behind them and the Constitution itself.

People are getting all their political information from media and it's not doing the job, unless billlionaire funded propaganada is the what's going to help. But it won't.

[struggle4progress]

3. North Carolina ushers in restrictive voting laws

Morgan Whitaker
6:05 PM on 08/12/2013

... McCrory justified his move in an opinion piece for the Raleigh News & Observer ... His article made no reference to the law’s significant cuts to early voting ...

“This law is a disaster. Eliminating a huge part of early voting will cut off voting opportunities for hundreds of thousands of citizens. It will turn Election Day into a mess, shoving more voters into even longer lines,” said Dale Ho, director of the ACLU’s Voting Rights Project, said in a statement. “Florida similarly eliminated a week of early voting before the 2012 election, and we all know how that turned out – voters standing in line for hours, some having to wait until after the president’s acceptance speech to finally vote, and hundreds of thousands giving up in frustration. Those burdens fell disproportionately on African-American voters, and the same thing will happen in North Carolina. We should be making it easier for people to vote, not harder.”

“Today’s lawsuit is about ensuring that all voters are able to participate in the political process,” said Allison Riggs, staff attorney for the Southern Coalition for Social Justice added. “Taken together, the new restrictions in this law will disenfranchise hundreds of thousands of eligible voters, depriving many of our most vulnerable citizens from being able to easily exercise a constitutional right. Additionally, the Voting Rights Act prohibits the state from implementing voting changes that will make it harder for Black voters to cast a ballot – and that’s exactly what this law does” ...

Keesha Gaskins, a lawyer from the Brennan Center, went so far as to call it “mean-spirited,” adding that the “measures don’t just harm democracy, they seem bent on curbing poll access for working people, young voters, seniors, and the disabled” ...

http://tv.msnbc.com/2013/08/12/nc-governor-signs-sweeping-elections-bill-to-require-voter-id-and-cut-early-voting/

[struggle4progress]

4. Butterfield asks Holder to challenge NC election law

Submitted by marycornatzer on 2013-08-12 18:05

Rep. G.K. Butterfield ... said "With one stroke of his pen, McCrory has effectively reversed 30 years of progress and reinstated practices similar to the discriminatory ‘Southern strategy’ adopted by the Republican party in the 60s and 70s. Without question, today is a shameful day for Republicans in North Carolina.”

In his letter, Butterfield wrote, “I ask that you take swift and decisive action by using any legal mechanisms at your disposal to protect voting rights for North Carolinians.

“This unjust and discriminatory law will have disastrous and long-term effects on the ability of minorities, new and college-age voters, the elderly, and the disabled to exercise their Constitutional right to vote in free and fair elections” ...

http://projects.newsobserver.com/node/28192

[struggle4progress]

5. What the voting law does

Posted: Monday, Aug. 12, 2013

... Students younger than 18 can no longer pre-register to vote ... The early voting period will be one week shorter ... You’ll no longer be able to vote a straight ticket ... Judicial elections for state Supreme Court and the Court of Appeals will no longer be funded by the public financing system ... Candidates will no longer have to stand by their ads ...

http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2013/08/12/4232684/what-the-voting-law-does.html

[struggle4progress]

6. What to Know About N.C. Voter ID Law

... Citizens who vote absentee will need to fill out an official board of elections request form that must include the voter’s name and address, date of birth, an ID number (either a driver’s license number or last four digits of the voter’s social security number) and the voter’s signature (or the signature of voter’s near relative or verifiable legal guardian). Once the application form is received, the county board of elections will mail the voter a ballot.

The voter then completes the ballot and mails it back in the envelope provided. The envelope must be signed by two witnesses or one notary public ...

http://www.thevoterupdate.com/articles/2013/8_12_13_h589.php

[struggle4progress]

7. North Carolina's governor signs sweeping voter ID bill into law

By David Zucchino
August 12, 2013, 4:53 p.m.

... North Carolina Republicans introduced the so-called Restore Confidence in Government Act after the Supreme Court struck down a key provision of the 1965 Voting Rights Act in June ... Forty of North Carolina’s 100 counties had been covered by the requirement, along with nine states and parts of several other states, mostly in the South ...

One of the things the law eliminates is a civics program that preregistered high school students to vote, allowing thousands to vote before their 18th birthday. When asked at a July 26 news conference how that combats voter fraud, McCrory said he could not answer because he had not read the bill.

The law also weakens disclosure requirements designed to identify who pays for campaign ads. It allows unlimited corporate donations to political parties and raises the cap on individual campaign donations from $4,000 to $5,000.

Neither McCrory nor Republican legislators have explained how those measures help guard against voter fraud ...

http://www.latimes.com/news/nation/nationnow/la-na-nn-north-carolina-voter-id-law-20130812,0,7370847.story

[JRLeft]

8. Clarence Thomas hates his skin he made legal to go ahead with this bullshit. NC Repukes want to

reduce the number of voters in order to maintain power.

[struggle4progress]

9. Hillary Clinton: NC Voter ID Bill 'Reads Like The Greatest Hits Of Voter Suppression'

By Ashley Alman
Posted: 08/12/2013 8:55 pm EDT

... On the same day that North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory (R) signed a restrictive voter ID bill into law, Clinton criticized the Supreme Court decision that she believes "stripped out the pre-clearance formula that made [the Voting Rights Act] so effective."

She noted that Texas, Florida and North Carolina are states whose recent voter legislation has shifted the burden, slamming the North Carolina bill as one that "reads like the greatest hits of voter suppression."

"In the weeks since the ruling, we've seen an unseemly rush by previously covered jurisdictions to enact or enforce laws that will make it harder for millions of our fellow Americans to vote," Clinton said ...

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/08/12/hillary-clinton-nc-voter-id_n_3746321.html

[JRLeft]

10. Like I said above reducing voter turnout is the only way than can hold onto power.

[struggle4progress]

15. gerrymandering + suppressing voter turnout + other smelly shizz = big ugly package

[struggle4progress]

11. Lawsuits challenge sweeping elections law

By Bridget Whelan and Laura Leslie
Posted: 6:06 p.m. yesterday
Updated: 8:14 p.m. yesterday

... The other lawsuit, filed by the American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU of North Carolina Legal Foundation and the Southern Coalition for Social Justice, tackles provisions of the law that cut a full week from the early voting period, eliminate same-day voter registration and prohibit "out-of-precinct" voting ...

"What does cutting back the opportunity to vote early in this state have to do with increasing integrity?" said Bob Phillips with Common Cause, a good government group. "I don't understand it, and I think a lot of people don't, and I think it's fair to ask those questions."

Phillips said he is concerned about the law allowing corporations to make unlimited donations to parties, raising the amount of money a donor can give to a politician and making it harder to know who paid for a political ad.

"Other things that have nothing to do with voter ID, nothing to do with voting, have again been repealed," Phillips said. "I think it's harmful to our democracy."

http://www.wral.com/lawsuit-challenges-sweeping-elections-law/12767690/

[struggle4progress]

12. With McCrory’s signing of voter ID bill, high hurdles for students

Published: August 12, 2013
By Bob Phillips

... Any person lacking an ID from the narrow acceptable list can obtain a “free” N.C.-issued card. Sounds great until finding what one has to do to get that ID.

Getting a “free” state-issued ID first requires a trip to a Department of Motor Vehicle’s office, taking with you no fewer than four other forms of identification. One of those IDs must be your original Social Security card or a tax form with your name and Social Security number. How many college students, much less the rest of us, can easily put their hands on that?

Other IDs needed to prove identity and residency can include an original birth certificate – not a copy – a marriage license, a divorce paper, tax records and work receipts – items not every 18-year-old college student readily has.

For some lawmakers, that’s the point ...

http://www.newsobserver.com/2013/08/12/3102664/with-mccrorys-signing-of-voter.html

[struggle4progress]

13. Poll: N.C. voters oppose elections bill signed by McCrory

Posted on August 12, 2013 by Bryan Warner

Although Gov. Pat McCrory touted an election-reform bill he signed into law on Monday as having popular support, the measure is opposed by half of North Carolina voters, according to a new survey from Public Policy Polling.

The poll finds that the bill is opposed by 50 percent of voters and supported by 39 percent, with 11 percent unsure.

Attitudes on the bill are split along party lines, with 71 percent of Republicans in favor of the measure and 72 percent of Democrats opposed. Independent voters are more evenly divided, with 49 percent against and 43 percent in favor of the measure.

Forty-six percent of white voters support the bill and 44 percent are against it. Among African-American voters, 72 percent are opposed. Self-described moderate voters are strongly against the measure, 70-20 percent. Women oppose the bill by a 54-32 percent margin, as do men, 46-45 percent ...

http://thevoterupdate.com/jones/?p=1649

[struggle4progress]

14. Groups file suit over Voter ID bill; poll says bill is unpopular

Posted: Monday, August 12, 2013 5:24 PM EST Updated: Monday, August 12, 2013 10:59 PM EST
by Dane Huffman

... a poll released Monday by Public Policy Polling of Raleigh found that only 39 percent of voters in the state support the new law, while 50 percent were opposed.

PPP said in a news release that "voter ID on its own is a popular concept with voters" but said "all the other stuff lumped into the bill along with voter ID is unpopular enough to make the overall bill a loser in voters' eyes" ...

http://www.wncn.com/story/23116499/groups-file-suit-over-voter-id-bill-poll-says-bill-is-unpopular

[marions ghost]

23. K&R

for your posts on this

[another_liberal]

18. Good for Mrs. Eaton and her supporters.

We have to fight this backhanded version of "Jim Crow" every step of the way. Make the racists in the North Carolina government spend their entire budget on fighting legal challenges. This can not be allowed to stand!

[kelliekat44]

19. NC can make this go away by simply granting a waiver for this plaintiff. And nothing will change.

[another_liberal]

21. I would not put that past them.

Yet, wouldn't that be an official admission of the unfairness inherent in their law? It could certainly be used as evidence of such in other legal actions.

[90-percent]

20. Wow, just wow

How utterly un-American and anti-democracy!

-90% Jimmy

[napkinz]

22. K&R

nt

[napkinz]

24. When Republicans say they want to take the country back ...

... they mean to Jim Crow!

[napkinz]

25. cartoon ...

[lordsummerisle]

26. Wow, great toon n/t

[napkinz]

27. Your Guide to North Carolina Republicans' War on Voting

Your Guide to North Carolina Republicans' War on Voting... Er I Mean "Preventing Voter Fraud!!

Aug 13, 2013
Stephen Wolf

North Carolina Republicans, eager to exercise their vice grip over the levers of power in the state for the first time since Reconstruction, recently passed a radical voting 'reform' law that Governor Pat McCrory just signed that among other things implemented a Voter ID provision. While you've likely heard of this aspect of the law, it also does some other dastardly things and make no mistake: all of them are designed to unfairly disadvantage the Democrats.

---

The changes to early voting will depress turnout, especially among the young, poor, and minorities. Disallowing Sunday voting in particular is targeted towards the "Souls to the Polls" movement that Black churches would do after Sunday services. Banning pre-registration obviously is intended to lower turnout among heavily Democratic young people.

---

The changes to early voting will depress turnout, especially among the young, poor, and minorities. Disallowing Sunday voting in particular is targeted towards the "Souls to the Polls" movement that Black churches would do after Sunday services. Banning pre-registration obviously is intended to lower turnout among heavily Democratic young people.

read more:

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/08/13/1230927/-Your-Guide-to-North-Carolina-Republicans-War-on-Voting-Er-I-Mean-Preventing-Voter-Fraud-11

[napkinz]

28. Rachel Maddow: War on student voting next step for NC Republicans