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.
A separate bill was floating around the House floor in the final days of the General Assembly’s regular annual session to end straight-ticket voting and same-day voter registration during the early voting period and a return to partisan judicial elections. It was possible measure could be considered Thursday night.
“As a state, and as an elected official herself, she feels that we should encourage voting, not discourage it,” Pearson said, adding the bills are “going in the opposite direction of where we should go.”
The legislation requires a person arriving at a precinct to show one of eight forms of photo ID, including a new voter card available for free from county election boards. Without the ID, people could still cast provisional ballots but would have to prove their identity later.
Full Article: Final voter ID mandate appears headed for veto | BlueRidgeNow.com.