The N.C. NAACP filed court papers Tuesday officially asking a federal judge to stop the state’s photo ID law from taking effect during the March 2016 primaries.
A federal trial is scheduled for the week of Jan. 25 on legal claims against the photo ID requirement, but attorneys for the state NAACP filed a motion for preliminary injunction, saying that allowing the photo ID requirement during the March 2016 primary elections would cause “irreparable harm” to minority voters. They argue that state officials haven’t done enough to educate voters and train county elections officials about the changes.
The photo ID requirement was passed as part of a controversial and sweeping elections law that state Republicans pushed in July 2013, soon after the U.S. Supreme Court issued a ruling invalidating a key section of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. That section required about 40 communities in North Carolina to seek federal approval before making changes in elections laws.
The state NAACP, the U.S. Department of Justice and others filed a lawsuit in 2013 over the law, known as the Voter Information Verification Act, alleging that the law was racially discriminatory and unconstitutional and violated Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. State attorneys have denied those allegations.
In June, state Republicans amended the photo ID requirement. The change meant that voters without voter ID could sign a “reasonable impediment” declaration outlining obstacles they faced in getting an ID.
The amendment also allowed voters to present certain kinds of expired photo ID issued within the last four years.
The changes to the photo ID requirement haven’t weakened the NAACP’s opposition.
“Notwithstanding the recent material changes to the Photo ID requirement enacted since the original passage of the law in 2013, the State has failed to prepare itself or educate voters sufficiently to overcome the substantial misinformation brought by two years of a ‘soft rollout’ of the requirement as originally enacted,” the NAACP attorneys said in their motion for a preliminary injunction.
Last month, Schroeder denied a motion to dismiss legal claims on the photo ID by state attorneys, who argued that the legal claims were moot because of the amendment passed by state legislators.
Attorneys for the state NAACP said in court papers that they had proposed a settlement agreement that would have resolved the legal claims. But state attorneys shot back that they disagreed with the proposed settlement.
Plaintiffs in the case proposed Tuesday that a hearing be set for the week of Dec. 14 on the preliminary injunction and keep the Jan. 25 trial date. State attorneys have proposed having a hearing on the preliminary hearing on Jan. 25 and moving the trial to July.
The Rev. William Barber, president of the state NAACP, said in a statement the photo ID requirement is an “undue and unlawful burden on voters of color.”
“Even with these alterations, North Carolina officials have yet to satisfactorily educate the public, poll workers and other state officials on the provisions of the law with its amendments,” he said in the news release. “A preliminary injunction would ensure democracy is not disrupted for eligible voters of color.”
