The Independent View: NC Voter ID Case Goes to Trial in January

North Carolina’s Photo ID requirement will go on trial later this month in U.S. District Court in Winston-Salem, a Federal judge said in court papers filed last Tuesday.

U.S. District Judge Thomas Schroeder signed an order modifying the deadlines for discovery in the case so a trial on the Photo ID requirement can begin Jan. 25.

The N.C. NAACP, the U.S. Department of Justice, and others sued North Carolina in 2013 after State Republican Legislators passed a sweeping elections law known as the Voter Information Verification Act. The law eliminated same-day voter registration, reduced the days of early voting from 17 to 10 and prohibited County Elections officials from counting ballots that were cast in the wrong precinct but right county. The law also included a Photo ID requirement.

The N.C. NAACP has also filed a motion for a preliminary injunction to keep the Photo ID requirement from taking effect during the March primaries. Victoria Wenger, a spokeswoman for some of the plaintiffs’ attorneys, said in an email Schroeder has not indicated whether he will hold a hearing on the preliminary injunction.

She said that the trial is tentatively scheduled to last four days.

Attorneys for the N.C. NAACP have raised questions about how much effort State Elections officials have put into publicizing the change and training of County Election officials.

State attorneys argue that state Election officials have updated their websites, conducted training, and distributed information to educate voters.

In court papers filed in December, attorneys for the N.C. NAACP cited a deposition from Kim Strach, the State’s Elections Director, in which she said the “reasonable impediment” declaration should be interpreted broadly and that election officials should “err on the side of viewing declarations in the light most favorable to the voter.”

State attorneys have refused to include Strach’s points in a written agreement or “commit to publicizing Ms. Strach’s interpretation of the Reasonable Impediment Declaration in an official memorandum to county board of elections or poll workers.”