NC Voting ID Law Case Won't Be Heard By Supreme Court

CHARLOTTE, NC — The U.S. Supreme Court will not be hearing an appeal aimed at restoring North Carolina’s voter identification laws, it announced Monday, leaving in place a federal court ruling that said it was unconstitutional.

In July 2016, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit struck down North Carolina’s voting identification law that was signed into law in 2013, saying the provisions were enacted with “discriminatory intent” and targeted African-American voters with “almost surgical precision.”

The law required voters to show photo identification while casting ballots. As explained by Reuters, "critics argued that the law enacted by North Carolina and several other states are designed to drive down turnout by minorities and poor people who rely more on flexible voting methods and are less likely to possess state-issued photo IDs." (Sign up for our free Daily Newsletters and Breaking News Alerts for the Charlotte, NC Patch.)

The Fourth Circuit Court ruling struck down the law's voter ID requirements, the reduction of early voting from 17 days to 10 days, the elimination of same-day registration and preregistration before voters turned 18 and ban on votes cast in the wrong precinct, according to The New York Times.

While the Supreme Court gave no reason for its decision to not hear the case, Chief Justice John G. Roberts said in a statement that there was a dispute about who represented North Carolina in the case and that “nothing should be read into the court’s decision to decline to hear it,” The New York Times reported May 15.

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