A federal appeals court has blocked two key provisions of North Carolina's draconian new Voter Law--it will now allow same day registration and out-of-precinct voting.
The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals granted a preliminary injunction against provisions that eliminated same-day registration during the early voting period and that prevented ballots cast outside of a voter's precinct from being counted.
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The Court allowed for some other parts of the law to go into effect, upholding limitations on early voting and allowing polls to close even if voters were still in line.
The court, which heard arguments in the case last week in Charlotte, said other provisions of the law, such as reducing early voting from 17 to 10 days and the ability for county boards of elections to keep polls open late on Election Day to accommodate crowds or deal with voting problems, would remain in effect.
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The ruling was 2-1. The lone dissenter agreed that the blocked provisions should not be in effect, but worried about changing the law so close to the election.
The Republican-controlled government of North Carolina will appeal this ruling to the U.S. Supreme Court. They are doing so in an end run around the Democratic Attorney General, Roy Cooper--
House Speaker Thom Tillis and Senate President Pro Tem Phil Berger said they would quickly appeal the decision to the U.S. Supreme Court. Tillis, Berger and Gov. Pat McCrory hired outside attorneys to work on challenges to the elections law after Attorney General Roy Cooper expressed reservations about the law. The Attorney General's Office is still working on the case, however.
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