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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsThe ‘smoking gun’ proving North Carolina Republicans tried to disenfranchise black voters
By Christopher Ingraham July 29
Today, a federal court struck down North Carolina's voter-ID law, one of the strictest in the nation. In addition to requiring residents to show identification before they can cast a ballot, the law also eliminated same-day voter registration, eliminated seven days of early voting and put an end to out-of-precinct voting. The federal court ruling reinstates these provisions, for now.
Supporters of the law, like North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory, have long maintained that requirements like these were necessary to prevent voter fraud. But time and time again, scholars and legal experts have found that the type of fraud these laws are meant to combat is largely nonexistent.
One of the most comprehensive studies on the subject found only 31 individual cases of voter impersonation out of more than 1 billion votes cast in the United States since the year 2000. Researchers have found that reports of voter fraud are roughly as common as reports of alien abduction.
The federal court in Richmond found that the primary purpose of North Carolina's wasn't to stop voter fraud, but rather to disenfranchise minority voters. The judges found that the provisions "target African Americans with almost surgical precision."
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2016/07/29/the-smoking-gun-proving-north-carolina-republicans-tried-to-disenfranchise-black-voters/
underpants
(182,868 posts)Thanks I will keep that one for further use.
Stuart G
(38,439 posts)CRK7376
(2,203 posts)Thrilled that the Fed Court in Richmond overthrew McCrory and the state GOP legislative stupidity. Good luck appealing that McCrory and friends.
groundloop
(11,521 posts)These bastards talk about patriotism blah blah blah, yet try to keep certain Americans from voting. They've managed to hang onto power in several states, as well as the House and Senate, through careful gerrymandering combined with laws to discourage minorities from voting.