N.C. asks high court to reinstate voter ID law

North Carolina asked the Supreme Court on Monday to restore some of its voting restrictions for this fall’s elections that were struck down by a federal appeals court late last month.

The request for emergency action by the justices dealt with three parts of a 2013 law but not two others successfully challenged by the Justice Department and civil rights groups: limits on same-day registration and out-of-precinct voting. That means those restrictions are gone for November in a crucial swing state.

The state asked that the high court reinstate its photo identification requirement as well as limits on early voting and allowing 16- and 17-year-olds to preregister so they can vote when they turn 18. It reasoned that voters are accustomed to those restrictions  since they have been in effect for earlier elections.

The justices are certain to rule on the request before the election, but how they will vote remains unclear. In the past, they have sided with the procedures voters are most familiar with. But the appeals court found that lawmakers intentionally discriminated against African Americans by making the changes, which could work against the state in this case.

That appeals court decision came a week after a similar ruling against Texas' voter ID law, giving civil rights groups two major victories leading up to the November elections. Both cases can be appealed in full to the Supreme Court, but the justices would not have time to consider them before Nov. 8.

North Carolina voting restrictions struck down

Judge blocks portion of voter ID

Citing "the inextricable link between race and politics in North Carolina," a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit said last month that state lawmakers intentionally imposed the restrictions to make it more difficult for blacks to vote.

"The new provisions target African Americans with almost surgical precision," the judges said. "They constitute inapt remedies for the problems assertedly justifying them and, in fact, impose cures for problems that did not exist."

Republican Gov. Pat McCrory said the appeals court decision "creates confusion among voters and poll workers, and it disregards our successful roll-out of voter ID in the 2016 primary elections. The Fourth Circuit’s ruling is just plain wrong, and we cannot allow it to stand.”

The North Carolina and Texas laws were enacted following the Supreme Court's ruling in 2013 striking down part of the Voting Rights Act that required states with a history of discrimination to get federal permission before changing voting procedures.

While Texas imposed the toughest photo ID rules, North Carolina's law was the most expansive of any in the nation. It had been challenged by the North Carolina NAACP and other civil rights groups, along with the U.S. Department of Justice.

Without court action, the law threatened to impact the presidential race in the politically balanced state, which President Obama won narrowly in 2008 but Mitt Romney won back for Republicans in 2012.

Seventeen states have new voting procedures in place for the November election, more than half of which are being challenged in court. Many require voters to show photo identification, such as the Texas law. Others target rules for registering, early voting and provisional voting, such as North Carolina's law.

Last month, the full U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit, a generally conservative court, ruled 9-6 that Texas' law was not intended to discriminate but had that effect on minority voters. The law could have left up to 600,000 voters without the proper identification in this fall's elections, opponents claimed.