Attorneys for the state NAACP and others filed a motion Monday asking the 4th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals to overrule a federal judge’s decision to deny a preliminary injunction blocking the state’s new voting law for the Nov. 4 general election. The state NAACP had announced last Thursday that it would appeal the ruling. The motion Monday comes two weeks after U.S. District Judge Thomas D. Schroeder denied the preliminary injunction that would have barred a state law that reduces days for early voting, eliminates same-day voter registration and prohibits county officials from counting ballots cast by voters in the correct county but wrong precinct. The law also gets rid of preregistration for 16- and 17-year-olds and increases the number of poll observers that each political party assigns during an election.
Schroeder ruled that the plaintiffs, which include Emmanuel Baptist Church in Winston-Salem, failed to prove that the law would have irreparable harm to black voters. The League of Women Voters, also plaintiffs and represented by the ACLU of North Carolina, has also indicated that it will appeal Schroeder’s ruling.
The state NAACP in its motion asks the 4th Circuit to expedite the proceedings, pushing for oral arguments to be heard by the court in Richmond, Va., on Sept. 19.
Under the new state law, the deadline for North Carolina residents to register to vote is Oct. 10. Early voting would begin Oct. 16.
Full Article: Attorneys for state NAACP file appeal of federal judge’s ruling on N.C. voting law – Winston-Salem Journal: Local News.