Lawsuits filed to challenge voter ID provision of new N.C. election law

Source: The Fayetteville Observer, N.mini storageC.Aug. 14--Voting is a matter of pride for Alberta Currie.Since the age of 21 in 1956, Currie consistently has voted in every election. It was her grandmother who instilled in her the importance of never missing a voting day, said Anita Earls of the Southern Coalition for Social Justice.But due to a voter ID provision in the state's new GOP-sponsored voting law signed by N.C. Gov. Pat McCrory Monday, she may not be able to cast a ballot on Election Day in the coming years.Currie, a 78-year-old native of Robeson County who now lives in Hope Mills, does not have a photo ID and cannot obtain one in North Carolina without a birth certificate. She doesn't have a birth certificate because she was born at home to a midwife during the Jim Crow days of the segregated South, Earls said.This afternoon, the Durham-based Southern Coalition for Social Justice filed a lawsuit in Orange County -- with Currie as the lead plaintiff -- challenging the new voter ID requirement of the law. The suit was filed on behalf of the N.C.A. Philip Randolph Institute, the League of Women Voters of North Carolina and several individual voters, including Currie.Currie could not be reached for comment today.At a news conference today, lawyers for several groups and voters challenging the law in two federal court lawsuits said they have a strong case, and "the totality of changes will be horrendous for black voters," according to The Associated Press.Republicans who passed the bill disagree. They say the law's provisions are similar to those in other states.In most cases, North Carolina voters will have until 2014 or 2016 to grasp the changes in the voting laws that have an impact on identification and registration.Before the law passed, critics said the new measures extended far beyond making changes, with some dubbing it the "anti-voting rights bill." Republicans maintain that the law protects election integrity without depriving voters of their rights."I voted for it because it is a good law," said Rep. John Szoka, a Republican from Cumberland County.On Monday, the Advancement Project, a national civil rights organization, filed a complaint against McCrory in Middle District Federal Court on behalf of the state NAACP. This legal action charges that the law violates Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act while challenging the law under the 14 and 15th Amendments of the U.S. Constitution."I think it's probably voter suppression with a great big 'S' on that suppression," said Jimmy Buxton, president of the Fayetteville branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. "We know for a fact that there was only one case of voter fraud in 2012. No reason, no rhyme someone can come up with this that it's not voter suppression when there's not anything broken."Rules to roll outStarting in 2014, voters will be asked to present a photo ID at the polls under the new photo identification law. Those who don't have a photo ID will be allowed to fill out a provisional ballot, which the election staff members will have to verify on site.Effective in 2016, North Carolina polling places only will accept a North Carolina driver's license, a state-issued ID card, a military ID or a U.S. passport. An out-of-state driver's license will suffice only if a voter moves into North Carolina within 60 days of an election. An outdated license possessed by an elderly person will work only if the voter was already 70 years old when the ID expired.That would keep Currie, whose last driver's license expired when she was 69, from exercising her right to vote.Currie's sister is the only person who can attest to her birth date, said Earls, a civil rights lawyer and executive director of the Southern Coalition for Social Justice. But Currie's sister lives in Virginia, Earls said, and she has Alzheimer's disease."There's really no way of (Currie) getting a birth certificate or ID in the state of North Carolina," she said.Earls, along with other critics of the newly enacted voting laws, argue that some of its provisions make it harder for North Carolinians to vote."Obviously, it hurts African-American voters disproportionately," Earls said. "Everyone used early voting. There will be a lot of people at a disadvantage. When you look at the numbers, disproportionately, it impacts African-American voters."In addition to the law requiring voter ID, early voting is curtailed by a week, from 17 days to 10, and Sunday voting is eliminated. self storageame-day registration will be cut, a process that has allowed eligible voters to register or correct any problems with their registration at the same time they vote.More than 40 percent of the voters who used same-day registration in 2012 were black, although only 20 percent of the state's voting age population is black, according to the public policy organization, Demos."There is something called the Constitution that is supposed to guarantee a citizen's right to vote and not inhibit the citizen's right to vote," said Fayetteville's Nancy Shakir, a Southeast organizer with the watchdog group Democracy North Carolina.Shakir expects that longer lines at the polls will produce a backlash, with voters growing weary of standing in line before walking away in frustration. The reduction in early voting, she said, also will create hardships on the elderly.Terri Robertson, executive director of the Cumberland County Board of Elections, could not be reached.The new voter ID law does not recognize college IDs as valid identification. Critics say this measure will make it more difficult for college students to vote in the state.Sherwood Egerton, a 22-year-old senior at Fayetteville State University from Washington, D.C., said he knows many out-of-state FSU students who won't be able to use their college IDs to vote in Cumberland County."It would be very inconvenient for them," he said.Because the photo ID requirement is three years away, Egerton won't necessarily be affected by that requirement of the law."But if I want to vote, I would have to go back home to vote," he said. "It makes it a little harder on those who don't have licenses or state IDs. It's mandatory that that they have an ID. But not everyone has proper identification."Szoka, the legislator from Cumberland County, said "it's ridiculous" to say that a university student has a student ID and no other form of identification."They have to have that to get a student ID card," he said. "It's clearly not discriminating against college students."As a freshman, Egerton said, he doesn't recall having to present his state-issued photo ID to receive his student ID. He said he just gave them his name.Race issues raisedThe end of voter pre-registration for 16- and 17-year-olds is scheduled to go into effect in September, two months before Election Day.Shakir calls the issue of not allowing high school students to pre-register particularly troubling."I used to be a history teacher," she said. "During your school years, you begin to understand your role as a citizen. One man, one vote. Now that's been eliminated. I think young people should be involved at an early age."Anything that inhibits voting and, from Shakir's perspective, gets in the way of democracy, limits citizenship."Many of the pieces of the Voting Rights Act are doing just that," she said. "I think it's to diminish basically a democratic state and, in many ways, (it) is diminishing the vote."Szoka disagrees. He said he's heard the critics who say Republicans and Tea Party members in the General Assembly have an ulterior motive in changing the voting laws: to place restrictions on voting and pushing an agenda that suppresses the populist embrace of the Democratic Party. He knows some think the changes are even racist in nature."I know that a lot of people make those claims," Szoka said. "I will tell you those claims are patently not true. Many people who are making those statements haven't taken the time to read the bill. ... I think this is a good law because every vote needs to count for one. Any voter fraud is too much. We elect people, and every vote needs to count. Those are people we hold accountable."But Buxton, with the NAACP, doesn't buy the voter fraud argument."They want to make sure they have a sure win the next 10 years," he said. "(Black voters) came out very strong in early voting, which they cut back. They took back Sunday voting, which they know people vote after church."Buxton said the NAACP will be placing more emphasis on voter registration and elevating public awareness of the changes in the voting laws."Whatever they're doing," he said of the state's elected Republicans, "we can counter what they say and do it twice as hard."Staff writer Michael Futch can be reached at futchm@fayobserver.com or 486-3529.Copyright: ___ (c)2013 The Fayetteville Observer (Fayetteville, N.C.) Visit The Fayetteville Observer (Fayetteville, N.C.) at .fayobserver.com Distributed by MCT Information Services迷你倉