Today (Monday), Attorney General Eric Holder is expected to announce a lawsuit against the State of North Carolina over the voter suppression bill passed by House Speaker Thom Tillis and the North Carolina General Assembly:
In the North Carolina lawsuit... the government will challenge requirements in state law that eliminate the first seven days of early voting opportunities and eliminate same-day voter registration during the early voting period...
The Justice Department challenge also is aimed at a provision eliminating the counting of certain types of provisional ballots by voters who cast ballots in their home counties but do not vote in the correct precincts.
The Young Democrats of North Carolina already has
a petition online in support of the lawsuit. YDNC was part of the coalition that fought for same-day registration over six years ago, and down in North Carolina we've spent the past 3 years fighting Republican efforts to keep young voters away from the ballot box.
I think we've got a really good chance when it comes to the provisional ballots. Earlier this year Taylor Callicutt penned a piece about everything that's wrong with the voter suppression bill, and one paragraph that sticks out is this one:
This Spring, Lt. Governor Dan Forest railed against provisional ballots, equating them with fraud. Forest also supports the repeal of same-day registration. Forest is wrong – there’s no malice in someone trying to participate in our democracy. Both measures Forest opposes help citizens vote and involve more scrutiny than standard registration and voting. 23,364 North Carolina voters were able to cast a legal, official vote last November thanks to provisional ballots; HB 589 eliminates provisional voting if the voter is at the incorrect precinct.
The press conference announcing the suit is scheduled for 12:00 PM.