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North Carolina has become the latest legal battleground over voter ID requirements and other election measures that critics say are being enacted to intentionally suppress the African-American vote.

The new law, signed Monday, requires voters to show a driver’s license or other government-issued ID before casting a ballot. It also shortens the period for early voting and eliminates the ability to register to vote and cast a ballot on the same day.

North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory called the new measure a “common sense law” that he said was supported by a significant majority of the state’s residents.

Others attacked the new measure as an attempt to undermine minority voters’ clout.

Two lawsuits filed in federal court charge that the election changes will have a disparate and discriminatory impact on African-American voters.

The new law “will cause the denial, dilution, and abridgement of African-Americans’ fundamental right to vote,” according to a 32-page complaint filed by the North Carolina NAACP on behalf of minority voters in the state.

“Today’s lawsuit is about ensuring that all voters are able to participate in the political process,” Allison Riggs, of the Southern Coalition for Social Justice, said of the lawsuit.

“Taken together, the new restrictions in this law will disenfranchise hundreds of thousands of eligible voters,” she said in a statement.

Both suits ask federal judges to find that state lawmakers and McCrory are engaging in intentional acts of racial discrimination in violation of the Voting Rights Act (VRA) and the US Constitution. http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Justice/2013/0813/Challenges-to-voter-ID-
law-put-North-Carolina-at-center-of-national-battle-video

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