NC Voter ID Law Hurdle Removed

Republican state leaders applauded the decision that could make NC voters show ID to vote in the 2022 election.

A federal appeals court delivered a victory for voter ID supporters in North Carolina on Dec. 2, reversing a lower court’s decision that blocked the state’s 2018 voter ID law because of racial bias.

The appeals court said a federal judge was wrong to block the ID requirement last year, arguing the judge improperly used past examples of discrimination by the state legislature to conclude the ID law was unfair.

“A legislature’s past acts do not condemn the acts of a later legislature, which we must presume acts in good faith,” the unanimous ruling stated.

This decision doesn’t ensure North Carolinians will have to show photographic identification when voting. The state and local NAACP chapters, plaintiffs in the case, can still appeal the latest ruling. And the ID requirement has also been temporarily blocked in state courts as it awaits a hearing by the N.C. Supreme Court.

Still, state Republican leaders applauded Wednesday’s ruling, believing it clears the way for North Carolina to join every other Southern state in making voters show picture IDs.

“If the 2020 elections have taught us anything it is the fact that voting in person with a photo ID is the best way to ensure the integrity of our elections,” N.C. House Speaker Tim Moore said in a statement. Read more

 From The Asheville Citizen Times, by Brian Gordon, USA Today Network