U.S. top court allows North Carolina
voting restrictions
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[October 09, 2014]
By Lawrence Hurley
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme
Court on Wednesday allowed North Carolina's new voting restrictions,
considered among the nation's most stringent, to go into effect.
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The court, with two of the nine justices dissenting, granted a
last-minute request by state officials seeking to block an appeals
court ruling that suspended parts of a new state voting law.
The state objected to the Richmond-based 4th U.S. Circuit Court of
Appeals' conclusion that same-day registration should be restored
and provisional voting reinstated for voters casting ballots outside
their normal precincts.
The high court's action means the appeals court's decision will not
go into effect and the two provisions will not be available to
voters in the Nov. 4 elections.
The high court's order did not indicate how many justices voted to
grant the stay. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg wrote a dissenting
opinion, which was joined by Justice Sonia Sotomayor.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2014/Oct/09/images/ads/current/businesscardlookat.png) In her dissent, Ginsburg noted that North Carolina enacted the new
law after the Supreme Court, in a 5-4 decision issued in June 2013,
struck down a key part of the federal Voting Rights Act, which was
aimed at protecting minority voting rights. She wrote that North Carolina's "heavy reliance" in its court
filings on high African-American turnout in the 2014 primary
elections was of limited significance, in part because one of the
three open congressional seats is a majority-nonwhite district.
The law was passed by the state's Republican-led legislature in
2013.
The state's Nov. 4 elections include a closely contested U.S. Senate
race that could be key in deciding whether Republicans gain control
of the chamber.
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Expressing disappointment that the Supreme Court allowed to take
effect what it termed a "massive voter suppression law," the North
Carolina NAACP said that black voters there had for years relied on
same-day registration and provisional ballots.
"Eliminating these measures will cause irreparable harm of denying
citizens their right to vote in the November election – a right
that, once lost, can never be recovered," Reverend William Barber,
president of the state NAACP, said in a statement.
The State Board of Elections reminded voters that the deadline to
register is now on Friday and advised that the more than 4 million
voter guides mailed to residents are accurate.
North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory, a Republican, hailed the ruling
on what he termed a "popular and common sense" measure.
(Reporting by Lawrence Hurley; Additional reporting by Jonathan
Kaminsky in New Orleans; Editing by Sandra Maler and Eric Walsh)
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