North Carolina’s voter ID law will be the topic of discussion this week among attorneys on each side of the lawsuits challenging the 2013 state election law overhaul. Lawyers for the NAACP and others offered that detail in an update to the federal judge presiding over the cases that will determine which rules govern elections in North Carolina next year. They plan to provide a report of their efforts to find common ground in a report to the judge on Sept. 17 as part of a trial could test the breadth of protections for African-Americans with claims of voter disenfranchisement two years after the U.S. Supreme Court invalidated a key provision of the 1965 Voting Rights Act. U.S. District Judge Thomas Schroeder presided over arguments during three weeks in July on parts of the challenge that did not include the requirement that N.C. voters show one of six photo identification cards to cast a ballot. The legislature amended that portion of the law on the eve of the trial, setting up a request from the challengers for deeper review of the broader implications of the changes.
In June, both chambers of the N.C. General Assembly added a process to the ID requirement that offered voters a “reasonable impediment declaration” for use of a provisional ballot when they were eligible to vote but did not have one of six stated IDs.
The specified reasons include a lack of transportation, disability or illness, lost or stolen photo ID, or a lack of a birth certificate or other documents to obtain photo ID. Voters could then fill out a form, providing their date of birth or the last four digits of their Social Security number, or show a voter registration card to prove their identity and cast a provisional ballot.
The N.C. photo ID requirement is set to take effect in 2016. Advocates contend it will prevent voter ID fraud, but in the federal trial last month Kim Strach, executive director of the State Board of Elections, testified that there have been two cases of someone impersonating another voter in 15 years and two more alleged this spring.
Full Article: NC voter ID law topic of negotiations | News & Observer.