WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law (Lawyers’ Committee) issued the following statement today in response to the ruling of the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals blocking North Carolina’s monster voter suppression law (H.B. 589):
The law unnecessarily required voters to show prescribed forms of photo identification at the polls, decreased the number of early voting days, and also eliminated pre-registration opportunities for 16 and 17-year-olds, same-day voter registration and out-of-precinct voting.
“The tide is turning against the proponents of voter suppression across our country,” said Lawyers’ Committee President and Executive Director Kristen Clarke. “Today, the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals struck down the “Monster Voter Suppression” law in North Carolina, finding that because of race, the state enacted one of the “largest restrictions of the franchise in modern North Carolina history.” The ruling comes just days after an en banc panel of the 5th Circuit found that Texas’s photo ID law had a clear discriminatory effect on minority voters. It is time for elected officials to see the writing on the wall and abandon efforts to lock Americans out of the ballot box. Now is the time to take action that makes it easier for all Americans to participate in our democracy.”
The Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law is actively engaged in litigation across the country challenging discriminatory voting laws that make access to the ballot box more difficult.
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