NC NAACP Announces Appeal in Decision Upholding
Discriminatory Photo Voter ID Law
RALEIGH, N.C - Attorneys representing the NC NAACP, and several local NAACP county chapters, filed a Notice of Appeal with the Middle District of North Carolina today in their lawsuit opposing S.B. 824, the discriminatory photo voter ID law that restricts access to the ballot for thousands of Black, Brown and poor North Carolinians.
In a March ruling, Federal Fourth Circuit Court Judge Loretta Biggs did not overturn the law, but agreed with Plaintiffs throughout the decision, including recognition of the deeply discriminatory racial impact of the law, stating that “the record before this Court makes clear that [because of this law] it is simply much more difficult for racial minorities to vote and to have their vote counted.”
Plaintiffs’ response to the court’s March ruling can be found here
Additional information: Filed in December of 2018, the lawsuit alleges that the law, SB 824, was passed with discriminatory intent and designed to dilute the voting power of Black and brown voters. In December 2019, The U.S. District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina granted the NC NAACP’s motion for a preliminary injunction, blocking North Carolina’s photo voter ID law from going into effect. In December 2020, A three-judge panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit reversed the preliminary injunction decision of the District Court, paving the way for photo voter ID to be implemented in NC.
In May of 2024 the case went to trial. Attorneys for the NC NAACP argued that the law violates Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, as well as the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments. Testimony was heard from voting rights advocates, community leaders, current and former elected officials, elections officials, and community members about the the tangible harm the state's photo voter ID law is inflicting, their experiences with voter intimidation and disenfranchisement, and why they believed it should have been permanently enjoined. An information kit on the case can be found here