US court upholds photo ID voter law

Associated Press

RALEIGH, N.C.

Civil-rights and elections attorneys said Tuesday they will appeal a federal court ruling upholding North Carolina’s 2013 major rewrite of its voting laws, a decision that marks at least a temporary victory for another state that requires photo identification to vote.

This week’s ruling came after two trials since July and 20,000 pages of court-filed documents. It rejected arguments by the state NAACP, the U.S. Justice Department, churches and individuals that the election changes approved by the GOP-led General Assembly disproportionately harmed minority voters.

Critics had sued, alleging that North Carolina’s revised voting law was passed to discriminate against poor and minority voters in violation of the Constitution and U.S. Voting Rights Act. While North Carolina has “significant, shameful past discrimination” that extended to voting, the plaintiffs didn’t show the law made it harder for minority voters to cast ballots compared to other groups, the judge ruled.

It marked a legal win for one of the 30 states that currently have some kind of voter ID rule in force. Nineteen have a photo ID mandate, according to the ruling.