(Credit: AP)
Voting in North Carolina may soon change, much in the same way a
wrecking ball changes a building.
The highly-conservative
North Carolina legislature just released a new voter suppression bill that would enact not just voter ID, but a host of other new
initiatives designed to make it more difficult to vote. A significant roadblock
to the legislation was removed last month when the Supreme Courtgutted the Voting Rights Act, making it easier for states with a history
of racial discrimination like North Carolina to enact new voter suppression
laws.
The Senate will consider substituted language for HB 589 on Tuesday afternoon. Among the dozens of changes,
these are the most onerous for North Carolina voters:
·
Implementing a strict voter ID
requirement that bars citizens who
don’t have a proper photo ID from casting a ballot.
·
Eliminating same-day voter registration, which allowed residents to register at the polls.
·
Cutting early voting by a full week.
·
Increasing the influence of
money in elections by raising the maximum campaign contribution to $5,000 and increasing the limit every two years.
·
Making it easier for voter suppression groups like True The Vote
to challenge any voter who they think may be
ineligible by requiring that challengers simply be registered in the same
county, rather than precinct, of those they challenge.
·
Vastly increasing the number of “poll observers” and increasing what they’re permitted to do. In 2012,
ThinkProgress caught the Romney campaign training such poll observers using highly
misleading information.
·
Only permitting citizens to vote in their specific precinct, rather than casting a ballot in any nearby ward or election
district. This can lead to widespread confusion, particularly in urban areas
where many precincts can often be housed in the same building.
·
Barring young adults from
pre-registering as 16- and 17-year-olds, which is permitted by current law, and repealing a state
directive that high schools conduct voter registration drives in order to boost turnout among young voters.
·
Prohibiting paid voter registration drives, which tend to register poor and minority citizens.
·
Dismantling three state public financing programs, including the landmark program that funded judicial elections.
·
Weakening disclosure requirements for outside spending groups.
·
Preventing counties from extending polling hours in the event of long
lines or other extraordinary
circumstances and making it more difficult for them to accommodate elderly or
disabled voters with satellite polling sites at nursing homes, for instance.
Each of these changes, on
their own, would be a significant step away from increasing voting rights.
Taken together, this is the voter suppression magnum opus.
Republicans currently hold
strong majorities in both legislative houses and control the governorship,
leaving Democrats with little recourse to block HB 589. In the last few weeks,
Republicans have passed conservative legislation on a range of issues, from a
major anti-choice bill to tax cuts for the rich paid for by the poor.
If passed, HB 589 will
almost certainly have a disastrous impact on voting in North Carolina. As Ari
Berman notes, 56 percent of
North Carolinians voted early in 2012, including a disproportionate number of
minorities. In addition, more than 155,000 voters registered to vote at the
polls last year. And with 10 percent of North Carolinians — 613,000 people, a third of whom are black
and half of whom are registered Democrats — lacking photo ID, it doesn’t take
Encyclopedia Brown to figure out which party will be helped by HB 589.
In December, the Center for
American Progress released a report detailing 11 specific pieces of legislation state lawmakers could
enact to strengthen voting rights. This North Carolina bill is what you would
get if you looked at that report, then did the exact opposite.
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