North Carolina: Final voter ID mandate appears headed for veto | BlueRidgeNow

Republican-backed legislation requiring North Carolina voters to show picture identification before casting a ballot they know will count is headed Thursday to the desk of Gov. Beverly Perdue, who sounds ready to veto the measure that fellow Democrats have called purely partisan.

The House agreed to minor changes to the bill approved Wednesday night by the Senate. The House vote of 62-51 was well short of the margin that would be needed to withstand a veto. Democrats have been critical of GOP efforts to place additional hurdles on voting in a state with history of civil rights restrictions during the Jim Crow era.

“The voter ID is clearly not in a form that the governor can support,” Perdue spokeswoman Chrissy Pearson said.

North Carolina: Voter ID requirement passes North Carolina Senate | NewsObserver.com

Over protests that they would effectively disenfranchise thousands of voters, the state Senate Wednesday night passed a bill that would require voters to show a photo ID. The bill passed along party lines 31-19. It now goes back to the House for agreement on minor changes.

Meanwhile a House committee passed a bill that includes sweeping changes in election law, including eliminating Sunday early voting and same-day registration.

Both bills are expected to get final approval this week and go on to Gov. Bev Perdue, a Democrat.

North Carolina: GOP seeks sweeping election law rewrite | WRAL.com

Just days from the end of session, House Republican leaders have unveiled a massive rewrite of the state’s election laws. Senate Bill 47, introduced with little notice in House Elections this afternoon, would repeal same-day registration in North Carolina, ban straight-ticket voting, shorten the early-voting period by a week, and ban early voting on Sundays (popular with churches for “Souls to the Polls” voting drives).

It would also repeal publicly-financed elections for the Superintendent of Public Instruction, Insurance Commissioner and Treasurer.

The measure also makes changes to campaign finance, creating a new type of account at political parties – a “headquarters” account – that could accept corporate money for operational support, though not for electioneering purposes.

North Carolina: North Carolina bill forcing voters to show photo ID before voting heading to Senate vote, likely passage | Daily Journal

North Carolina lawmakers are moving ahead on legislation to require people to show a photo identification card before voting.

A Senate judiciary committee approved the legislation Tuesday. A vote by the full Senate could come later Tuesday. The measure already has passed the House by a margin too small to override a potential veto by Gov. Beverly Perdue. Perdue has indicated she might veto the legislation.

North Carolina: Asheville-area politicians weigh in on North Carolina voter ID bill | The Asheville Citizen-Times

Debate over legislation requiring voters to show photo identification before casting a ballot has been passionate, with the House Republican majority prevailing on the bill.

But experts like Gibbs Knotts, a political science professor at Western Carolina University, question whether the law’s impact will match the rhetoric’s heat.

The GOP contends the measure is needed to root out voter fraud and keep elections honest, while Democrats maintain it’s a politically motivated scheme to disenfranchise voters who traditionally vote Democratic.

“I think the evidence from people who have studied this is that maybe both sides exaggerate the effect,” Knotts said.

North Carolina: Voter ID bill easily passes North Carolina House | CharlotteObserver.com

North Carolina would join 13 other states requiring voters to show a photo ID under a bill passed Thursday by the Republican-led N.C. House. The measure passed 66-48 along party lines, despite Democratic protests that it would decrease turnout.

Some critics invoked comparisons to Jim Crow-era voting barriers. The bill now goes to the Senate, which is expected to endorse it. It would then go to Democratic Gov. Bev Perdue.

North Carolina: Passionate debate resumes on North Carolina’s voter ID bill | Times Union

North Carolina House Republicans are trying to pass legislation that demands people show photo identification before they enter a voting booth, even though it appears the measure would face a veto from Gov. Beverly Perdue.

The House returned Thursday to debate further a politically divisive voter ID bill after the Republican-led chamber conducted the first of two required votes just before midnight Wednesday following just a few minutes of debate.

The bill was tentatively approved on a 67-50 party-line vote, but the GOP margin falls a few votes shy of overcoming any potential veto. Perdue’s office has been critical of the legislation, and Democrats and voting rights advocates have called it a veiled method to suppress voting among blacks, older adults and women.

North Carolina: More debate expected on Voter ID bill in NC | Beaumont Enterprise

North Carolina House Republicans are trying to pass legislation that demands people show photo identification before they enter a voting booth, even though it appears the measure would face a veto from Gov. Beverly Perdue.

The House was expected Thursday to discuss the voter ID bill more after the Republican-led chamber conducted the first of two required votes just before midnight Wednesday following just a few minutes of debate.

Editorials: Big voter turnouts and perceptions of fraud | NewsObserver.com

Since North Carolina Republicans introduced a Voter ID bill in February that would require all citizens to show a photo ID before voting, one thing has become crystal clear. State efforts are part of a nationwide drive to tighten rules on voting. In the past two months no less than 13 state legislatures, all of them controlled by Republicans, have advanced Voter ID legislation.

Sponsors in North Carolina and elsewhere claim showing driver’s licenses or a similar card will eliminate voter fraud and, as the North Carolina bill is named, “Restore Confidence in Government.” Democrats have countered that there has been no wave of election fraud that needs fixing. Instead, they insist, Republicans are trying to make it harder for the elderly, the poor and the transient – those who often lack driver’s licenses – to vote. They compare the measure to historic poll taxes that once disfranchised thousands of North Carolinians.

North Carolina: Voter ID bill given initial OK on North Carolina House floor | NewsTimes

The Republican-led North Carolina House late Wednesday muscled through legislation requiring voters to show photo identification before casting an in-person ballot, despite Democratic accusations the bill is a voter suppression measure designed to boost GOP political fortunes.

By a vote of 67-50, the House gave tentative approval to the voter ID restrictions just before midnight at the close of a marathon day in which General Assembly members considered scores of bills as a self-imposed procedural deadline late Thursday approached. The party-line vote, however, appears to keep Republicans a few votes short of overcoming any potential veto by Democratic Gov. Beverly Perdue.

The measure received about 10 minutes of debate for the first of two required votes before the new day began. House Speaker Thom Tillis, R-Mecklenburg, pledged a longer discussion later Thursday on the divisive bill.

North Carolina: House’s final decision on North Carolina voter ID bill could come Thursday | Sun Journal

Just a few moments before the stroke of midnight Wednesday, the state House gave its tentative approval to a bill requiring North Carolina voters to produce a government-approved photo ID to cast their ballots.

The Republican majority limited debate on the bill, entitled “Restore Confidence in Government,” to a brief explanation by bill sponsor Rep. David Lewis, R-Harnett, and short comments by Minority Leader Joe Hackney, D-Orange, and Majority Leader Paul “Skip” Stam, R-Wake.

A final vote on the bill could come on Thursday. House Speaker Thom Tillis, R-Mecklenburg, said that House members would be allowed to debate the bill fully at that time.

North Carolina: Latest version of proposed North Carolina voter ID bill restricts forms of ID | Sun Journal

House Republicans have thrown another twist in a proposal to require North Carolina voters to provide a photo ID when they go to the polls.

They abandoned an earlier version that would have allowed citizens to show a voter registration card or other approved documents, such as a utility bill or a paycheck, in favor of a strict government issued photo identification card.

“The bill we discussed earlier today was an attempt at a compromise that might have garnered some support from the other side of the aisle,” said Rep. David Lewis, R-Harnett, a primary sponsor of the bill. “Unfortunately that did not work.”

North Carolina: Republican lawmakers roll out new voter ID bill in North Carolina | San Antonio Express-News

Republicans in the North Carolina General Assembly have rolled out a new version of a bill that would require voters to show identification before they cast a ballot — a proposal they hope will attract support from some Democrats and Gov. Beverly Perdue.

A measure unveiled Tuesday in the House budget-writing committee would still require potential voters to show one of eight forms of photo ID. They could also offer their voter registration card, utility bill, pay stub or bank statement, but precinct officials would match a person’s signature against voter rolls before a ballot is accepted immediately.

North Carolina: Lawmakers wrestle with early voting cutoff in North Carolina | The Charlotte Post

The North Carolina Senate will soon decide how early “early voting” can be. The state House has passed its version of a bill to reduce the amount of time polling sites can be open before elections by one week. Republican backers of the idea suggest it will save county governments money, but the people who administer the elections say it would actually cost more.

Bev Cunningham, director of the Henderson County Board of Elections in Hendersonville, says her staff would be much busier for a shorter time period.

”I think if this passed, what we would have to see in Henderson County is probably more early voting sites to handle the number of voters that are accustomed to voting this way,” she said. “They like being able to choose around their work schedule, or just schedule in general, to come vote.”

North Carolina: Shorter early voting costlier | The Charlotte Observer

A bill that would shorten North Carolina’s early voting period would create longer lines at the polls and increase the cost of elections, the executive director of the state elections board said Wednesday. Gary Bartlett’s comments came in a memo shortly after the House narrowly passed the measure that would reduce the current 21/2-week early…

North Carolina: North Carolina Senate bill seeks to cripple one-stop early voting | The Wilmington Journal

A Republican-sponsored NC Senate bill, SB 657, has been introduced that, if enacted, would severely cripple the state’s One Stop Early Voting/Same-day Voter Registration law that helped President Barack Obama win North Carolina in 2008. Indeed, the bill would eliminate same-day registration, an important tool of voter empowerment for communities of color, proponents say. The goal,…