A unanimous, all-Democratic N.C. Appeals Court panel has decided to block voter I.D. in North Carolina indefinitely.
A federal court has already blocked voter identification to for the primary election in early March. With the state Appeals Court’s decision voter ID cannot be used until after a complete trial on the merits of a challenge to North Carolina’s voter ID law in state court.
North Carolina’s voter ID law allows any voter to assert a “reasonable impediment” at the polls for why they don’t have a qualifying ID and cast a ballot.
The law provides for free state-issued IDs and accepts a broad range of qualifying IDs including student IDs, drivers’ licenses, passports, military and veteran IDs, voter and state employee cards, and Native American tribal cards. The law accommodates religious objectors and even allows drivers’ licenses from other states to qualify in some circumstances.
Thirty-four other states have some form of voter ID law. North Carolina is the last state in the Southeast not to require some form of voter ID.
In proper form, the Democrats jumped to the accusation of racism. Democratic Judge Toby Hampson wrote that the law was discriminatory towards African-American voters. His court opinion implies that the Voter ID law was written to be intentionally discriminatory, even though multiple African American members of the NC General Assembly voted in favor of voter I.D.
It has been over a year since the majority of North Carolinians voted to secure the integrity of our elections system by voting for the Voter I.D. constitutional amendment. The Democrats had plenty of time to pursue litigation earlier in 2019. They have waited intentionally until the last minute to file these injunctions, leaving our state with uncertain election laws.
“This is yet another example of Left-wing Democratic activist judges thwarting the will of the voters of North Carolina when it comes to voter I.D.” – Representative Destin Hall
Comments