Federal Court Strikes Down North Carolina Voter Suppression Law (UPDATED)

Improving odds of North Carolina going blue again in November:

A federal appeals court has struck down North Carolina’s voter identification law, holding that it was “passed with racially discriminatory intent.” 

The ruling also invalidated changes the state made in 2013 to early voting, same-day registration, out-of-precinct voting, and preregistration.  [snip] 

The state could seek to appeal the decision to the full bench of the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals or to the Supreme Court, but it seems unlikely those courts will step in to restore the voter ID law and other voting-related changes in advance of the November election.

Another banana Republican attempt to suppress Democratic voting goes down in flames.  Sad!

UPDATE I: Charles P. Pierce has his inimitable say.

UPDATE II:  The News & Observer (Raleigh, NC) editorialized:

North Carolina’s 2013 election law was advertised as preventing voter fraud. Instead, it has been exposed as fraudulent lawmaking – voter suppression in the guise of voting protections. 

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit delivered that stinging ruling Friday. A three-judge panel unanimously found that the requirement of a valid photo ID to vote and other election law changes made by the Republican-controlled General Assembly were targeted at illegally suppressing the votes of certain minorities, especially African-Americans. 

North Carolinians heading to the polls this November can put away their photo IDs. The full early voting period will be restored. Out-of-precinct votes will count again. People will once more be able to register and vote on the same day. And North Carolina will go back to being a state that encourages rather than obstructs voting. 

These will all be good restorations for North Carolina, but their return is a stain on the state’s Republican leadership. Not only did the Republicans deny many voters – the primary election saw thousands of votes thrown out under the new law – they claimed they were protecting voter integrity even as they failed to apply a photo ID to absentee ballots, which tend to support Republicans.

UPDATE III:  The Charlotte Observer adds,

We knew. Deep down, most of us knew. 

We knew that North Carolina’s 2013 voter ID law, like similar laws across the country, was not truly about voter fraud, but voter suppression. 

We knew Republicans were less interested in the integrity of elections than in building obstacles for their opponents’ supporters. 

We knew. Some Republicans even admitted it. And last week, in North Carolina, they got called on it.  [snip]

We knew. So did those lawmakers. And now, the 4th Circuit affirmed it: The fraud we needed to be protected from is what happened in the General Assembly.