Judges right to throw out 2013 election law
Published August 12, 2016
Editorial by Winston-Salem Journal, August 8, 2016.
The U.S. Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals’ recent examination and rejection of key provisions of the state legislature’s 2013 voter law leaves little doubt that those measures were intended to suppress voting by African Americans, who generally go heavily for Democrats.
The three-judge panel noted that a relatively tame 16-page bill, debated for almost six weeks, turned into a 57-page omnibus bill immediately following a U.S. Supreme Court decision that loosened the restrictions of the Voting Rights Act. The bill was passed in three days with scant time for debate.
“Before enacting that law, the legislature requested data on the use, by race, of a number of voting practices. Upon receipt of the race data, the General Assembly enacted legislation that restricted voting and registration in five different ways, all of which disproportionately affected African Americans,” the court said.
The legislature “excluded many of the alternative photo IDs used by African Americans” and retained “only the kinds of IDs that white North Carolinians were more likely to possess,” the court said.
The legislature targeted early voting, same-day registration, out-of-precinct voting and preregistration, all provisions more likely to be used by African Americans, the court said.
Supporters of voter restrictions like to say that those who oppose them must think people who don’t have photo IDs are too stupid to get them. But it’s not a matter of intelligence — it’s a matter of money and opportunity. Poor citizens are less likely to have driver’s licenses. They’re also less likely to have jobs that allow them the flexibility to take a day or two off work to run down the necessary documentation to acquire a state-provided photo ID.
Supporters of voter restrictions also cling to anecdotal stories about rampant voter fraud. Legislative leaders responded heatedly to the Fourth Circuit court’s decision, suggesting that the court intended to “reopen” the door for voter fraud, and allow Democrats to “steal” the election. They plan to appeal the case to the U.S. Supreme Court.
But the Fourth Circuit’s ruling said that “the state has failed to identify even a single individual who has ever been charged with committing in-person voter fraud in North Carolina.” The insistence on widespread voter fraud is a study in denial.
“Our conclusion does not mean, and we do not suggest, that any member of the General Assembly harbored racial hatred or animosity toward any minority group,” the court said.
But it is clear the legislature intended for the Republican Party to stay in power.
Unduly influencing the vote isn’t a uniquely Republican tactic. Democrats did their share of gerrymandering when they were in charge of the state. But the 2013 law was a new low.
Voting is the bedrock of our democracy. If any one American right should be free of political manipulation, it’s this one. Thanks to this ruling, the 2016 election in North Carolina should proceed on a much fairer basis.
