Panel of NC Judges Make Split Decision to Block Voter ID Law; Says it Discriminates Against Black People

A split decision to block a North Carolina Voter ID law was ruled on by a panel of judges Thursday.

Two judges on the panel claimed in their majority opinion that the law, which would have required voters to show a photo ID to cast a ballot, “was enacted in part for a discriminatory purpose.”

The ruling also stated that the law “would not have been enacted in its current form but for its tendency to discriminate against African American voters.”

CNBC reported that the judge’s decision referenced a 2015 analysis conducted by a political scientist, which showed that hundreds of thousands of registered North Carolina voters might not have ID that would allow them to cast their ballots under the proposed law.

The analysis revealed that 9.6% of Black “registered voters lacked acceptable ID” to vote under a previous voter ID Bill compared to their white counterparts. Only 4.5% of white people lack the proper ID requirements.

The majority decision also pointed out that some Black people living in the state are more likely to live in poverty than their white counterparts. Therefore, they have a higher chance of facing “face greater hurdles to acquiring photo ID.”