North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory (R) just signed a law to safeguard voting rights in the Tar Heel State, and the Obama administration is threatening to sue (again).
North Carolina’s new law requires a person attempting to vote to show a (1) North Carolina driver’s license, (2) U.S. passport, or (3) military ID at the polls to cast their ballot. It also ends same-day voter registration and shortens the period for early voting from 17 days to 10 days.
The law is supported by over 70% of North Carolinians. It is a law that recognizes that everyone has the right not to have their vote canceled by a fraudulent vote, and so states should take measures to safeguard the integrity of the ballot box.
In 2008, the Supreme Court upheld Indiana’s voter ID law in its 6-3 decision Crawford v. Marion County, with even the liberal Justice John Paul Stevens voting to uphold this requirement.
But President Barack Obama is a staunch foe of voter ID laws, citing the liberal talking point that it prevents people from voting. It’s worth noting that the Supreme Court in Crawford noted that the plaintiffs could not identify a single voter in the entire state of Indiana that would not be able to vote as a result of the new law.
For states under the preclearance system of Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act (VRA), Attorney General Eric Holder has denied Department of Justice (DOJ) approval to requests to adopt voter ID laws. Nine states in the South, and parts of another seven states, are under Section 5.
But in June, the Supreme Court struck down part of VRA in Shelby County v. Holder, keeping Section 5 but striking down the Section 4 formula that determines which states fall within the Section 5 preclearance system. As a result, Holder is suing in federal court, trying to do an end run around the Supreme Court and force states back into Section 5.
North Carolina is the first state to enact a voter ID law since Shelby County. It should come as no surprise that Holder is threatening to sue North Carolina as well.
Breitbart News legal columnist Ken Klukowski is on faculty at Liberty University School of Law. Follow him on Twitter @kenklukowski.