The Independent View: NC Voter Suppression Trial

On July 13, 2015, at 9:30 AM in Courtroom 1 of the United States District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina in Winston-Salem, opening arguments will begin in NC-NAACP v McCrory, a challenge to Tarheel State Republicans' worst-in-the-nation voter suppression law which will set the stage for similar battles across the nation.

The plaintiffs including the North Carolina chapter of the NAACP, the U.S. Department of Justice, and the North Carolina League of Women Voters have brought suit against Governor Pat McCrory (R) and the State of North Carolina.

Plaintiffs seek to overturn HB 589, the Voter Information Verification Act: a sweeping law signed by McCrory in 2013 which slashes early voting days, abolishes same-day voter registration at the polls, reduces opportunities for voters to cast provisional ballots, discourages high-schoolers from registering to vote, requires would-be voters to present government-issued photo IDs at the polls, blocks black churches' previously successful 'souls to the polls', Sunday after church, get-out-the-vote efforts, lengthens lines at polling places, and much more.

For a suit that has yet to see its opening arguments, NC-NAACP v McCrory has already covered a lot of ground. First filed (August 12, 2013) just days following passage of HB 589, it has already witnessed:

- (5/19/14) Plaintiffs' motion in District Court for a preliminary injunction to halt the application of the new law's provisions until after the 2014 mid-term election.

- (8/8/14) Denial of the motion for preliminary injunction.

- (10/1/14) Reversal of the denial for preliminary injunction by the U.S. Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals.

- (10/8/14) Reversal by the Supreme Court of the Circuit Court's decision. This decision returned the case to U.S. District Court, for the hearing.

In yet one final pre-trial twist in this suit, Republicans in the North Carolina General Assembly unexpectedly rammed a bill through both chambers weakening (but not completely removing) HB 589's voter ID requirement. To many observers on both sides of the issue, it looked like a tacit admission that the State viewed its case in NC-NAACP v. McCrory to be weak, and therefore looked to jettison the single weakest link in HB 589 as a sacrificial offering. Given the fact that study after study has demonstrated that voter fraud is a nonexistent problem here in North Carolina, and thus that voter ID was a solution in search of a problem, it was a sacrifice that cost the state nothing, while preserving the meatier bits of HB 589, those which make voting itself difficult for the poor, the young, and minorities.

In a recent agreement, both sides in NC-NAACP v. McCrory consented to defer the voter ID component of the case, and only that component,) to a later date, in order to give all sides time to better understand how this last-minute legislation may change their arguments.

The trial is expected to take about four weeks to complete.