U.S. District Judge Loretta Biggs gave advanced notice ahead of her official ruling next week by a written release. Indications are she announced her plan to grant an injunction to prevent information packets about the voter ID requirement being sent out by the State Board of Elections. The amendment was slated to go into effect at the beginning of 2020.
State and local chapters of the NAACP filed a lawsuit challenging the constitutional amendment, which North Carolina voters approved in a referendum in 2018, just a day after state lawmakers passed the resulting legislation. The plaintiffs allege the ID requirements are racially biased, saying black and Latino voters are at a significant disadvantage to vote with the ID requirement.
Less than a month ago, the State Board of Elections approved identification cards for UNC System students and employees as valid voter IDs. But the NAACP contends the lack of approval for government IDs from public assistance programs disproportionately affects minorities.
State NAACP President the Rev. Anthony Spearman held a press conference Friday afternoon, where he called the decision a victory for voting rights.
The amendment passed in 2018 is not North Carolina’s first attempt at passing a voter ID requirement. After being initially passed as a law in 2013, it was struck down by a federal court in 2016 as being unconstitutional, deemed a racially discriminatory law by the courts. It is unclear whether Biggs’ injunction is to address certain criteria of the legislation or the constitutionality of the amendment.
Two additional cases against the voter ID requirements are still pending in court.
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