Voter ID law quashed by N.C. judges

RALEIGH, N.C. — North Carolina judges struck down the state’s latest photo voter identification law Friday, agreeing with minority voters that Republicans rammed through rules tainted by racial bias to remain in power.

Two of the three trial judges declared the December 2018 law is unconstitutional, even though it was designed to implement a photo voter ID mandate added to the North Carolina Constitution in a referendum just weeks earlier. They said the law intentionally discriminates against Black voters, violating their equal protections.

The law “was motivated at least in part by an unconstitutional intent to target African American voters,” Superior Court Judges Michael O’Foghludha and Vince Rozier wrote in their 100-page majority opinion.

“Other, less restrictive voter ID laws would have sufficed to achieve the legitimate nonracial purposes of implementing the constitutional amendment requiring voter ID, deterring fraud, or enhancing voter confidence,” the ruling says.

The majority decision, which followed a three-week trial in April, is likely headed to a state appeals court, which previously blocked the law’s enforcement while the case was heard. The law remains unenforceable with this ruling.

With a similar lawsuit in federal court set to go to trial in January and another state court lawsuit on appeal, it’s unlikely that a voter ID mandate for in-person and absentee balloting will be in effect for the 2022 elections.