With the Republican-led legislature reconvening today, Aug. 3, for the first of two special sessions, there are concerns that part of the agenda beyond overriding Gov. Cooper’s vetoes, redrawing legislative voting maps and tinkering with judicial districts will be to pass another law designed to restrict voter access to the polls. “A new voter suppression bill is coming soon,” warned Bob Hall, executive director of Democracy N.C., a nonpartisan public policy advocacy group, in a mass email to supporters last week. “They’ve also been threatening for months to revive provisions of the 2013 Monster Voting Law, including a new photo ID bill that will target certain North Carolinians, harm eligible voters and trigger more costly litigation.”
Though GOP legislative leaders haven’t laid out exactly what they’ll be introducing, they’ve been sending strong signals ever since the U.S. Supreme Court last May refused to take up the unconstitutionality of the 2013 voter ID law, thus leaving a 2016 U.S. Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals ruling that the measure targeted African-American voters for suppression with “almost surgical precision” in place.
… “We fully expect this legislature that [Bishop] Barber called ‘unconstitutionally constituted’ to continue to do all they can to maintain power,” said Winston-Salem NAACP President Rev. Alvin Carlisle. “ This extremist legislature fully understands that fair elections will mean an end to their tyrannical reign. We must continue to utilize the judicial process to secure fair voting maps for North Carolinians. The continued efforts of the powerful to silence the voice of the masses continues to paint NC in a negative light.”
Full Article: Opponents expect new N.C. voter suppression bill | WS Chronicle.