On Thursday, the N.C. Senate ratified SB824, enabling legislation for North Carolina’s strict photo ID requirement. The bill now heads to Gov. Roy Cooper, who has until Dec. 16 to veto, sign, or allow the legislation to pass into law without his signature.
In response, Democracy North Carolina Executive Director Tomas Lopez released the following statement:
“Instead of a waiting for a duly elected N.C. General Assembly to take its time and hear from voters, this week lame duck lawmakers passed enabling legislation for a strict photo ID amendment that will impact eligible North Carolina voters’ access to the ballot.
This voting restriction, modeled after a South Carolina Voter ID law that has proven to disproportionately impact on African-American voters, lacked sufficient debate, public input, and funding for such a sweeping change to voting in North Carolina. In theory and practice, Senate Bill 824 will make voting more difficult for eligible North Carolinians, and in doing so especially harm both voters of color and the most vulnerable among us.
We’re calling on Gov. Cooper to veto this legislation and send a strong message to lawmakers that they should be doing more to protect voters in this process.”
Click here to take action: Tell Gov. Cooper to veto the photo ID restriction bill — Senate Bill 824 — and send a strong message to lawmakers that they should protect voters in the process.