MORRISVILLE, N.C. (July 16, 2016) — The North Carolina State Board of Elections has officially adopted two proposed rules on changes to the voter ID exception form and a ban on amplified sound at polling locations – unnecessary, blatant attempts to block voting access and muffle the voices of North Carolina voters, particularly those in Black and brown communities.
The rules now head to the Rules Review Commission, which will review and codify them into state statute. However, should 10 objection letters be filed, the decision will instead be referred to the state legislature.
The rule adopting changes to the voter ID exception form will alter how these exception form ballots can be discarded, lowering the threshold from a unanimous vote to a simple majority. This same reduction also narrows the threshold that triggers a voter’s right to advance notice and an opportunity to be heard before their ballot is thrown out, from “one less than all members” of the board down to a bare majority.
Meanwhile, the rule around amplified sound at the polls updates parameters around buffer zones, electioneering, and conduct at sites, targeting “amplified sound” near polling locations. State leaders have made it abundantly clear that this rule deliberately targets programs like Souls to the Polls, Student Marches, and Parties at the Polls – events that have historically brought thousands of voters to the ballot box. Given these events are often attended by young voters and those in the Black community, this attack on free speech – as well as the community itself – feels particularly targeted and disheartening.
“These rule changes are not isolated decisions that otherwise exist in the evolution of an administrative body that has historically existed – neutrally, in a non-partisan fashion – to ensure that elections are conducted uniformly and impartially for every eligible voter. Indeed, it is this body’s very mandate and purpose,” said Brian Kennedy, Policy Director with Democracy North Carolina. “These changes are part of a pattern of recent election administration changes at the State Board that consistently make voting harder for Black, brown, low-income, and young voters. Targeting the community traditions that most effectively mobilize those same voters is not a coincidence.”
“North Carolina has a well-documented history of voter suppression, from the 1898 Wilmington coup to the Jim Crow-era literacy tests and poll taxes that followed it, to a voter ID law that the Fourth Circuit found was crafted, in the court’s own words, to ‘target African Americans with almost surgical precision,’” Kennedy said. “A rule that silences the events most effective at mobilizing Black, brown, and young voters fits squarely within that history. Ask directly: who benefits when Souls to the Polls cannot march? Who benefits when a Party at the Polls goes silent? Who benefits when students can no longer drum their way to the ballot box? A rule that answers those questions in favor of silence, rather than participation, is not a neutral administrative measure.”
Click here to read Democracy North Carolina’s submitted comments on the amplified sound and voter ID rule changes.
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Democracy North Carolina is a statewide nonpartisan organization that uses research, organizing, and advocacy to strengthen democratic structures, build power among disenfranchised communities, and inspire confidence in a transformed political process that works for all.