You would think North Carolina Republicans might want to be a little more subtle than they have been now that the Supreme Court will be weighing whether they can keep their voter suppression laws for this election—particularly in light of the finding from the lower court of "intentional discrimination by the state." But no, they're still at it, with no effort to hide their motivation.
The N.C. Republican Party encouraged GOP appointees to county elections boards to “make party line changes to early voting” by limiting the number of hours and keeping polling sites closed on Sundays.
NCGOP executive director Dallas Woodhouse emailed the request to Republican county board members and other party members on Sunday. The News & Observer obtained copies of the emails through a public records request. […]
“Our Republican Board members should feel empowered to make legal changes to early voting plans, that are supported by Republicans,” Woodhouse wrote in his email to board members. “Republicans can and should make party line changes to early voting.”
Woodhouse laid out his priorities for new early voting schedules: limiting hours on early voting days to limit same-day registration, which is only available in early voting and in Woodhouse's view is "ripe with voter fraud, or the opportunity to commit it;" ending Sunday voting, when many African-American churches run "souls to the polls" voting events, arguing that "our folks are angry and are opposed to Sunday voting for a host of reasons including respect for voter’s religious preferences;" and closing early voting sites on college campuses because "college students […] already have more voting options than most other citizens." He also rails against efforts by voting rights activists—and voters!—to fight these changes, saying "[Democrats] are filling up election board meetings and demanding changes that are friendly to democrats [sic] and possibly voter fraud."
Clearly, Woodhouse is no fan of democracy. The News & Observer notes that "a number of Republican elections board members have voted for plans that include Sunday hours and college campus polling sites." This kind of direct interference from the state Republican party will do no good for Gov. Pat McCrory's attempt to convince the courts that this really is all about voter fraud—and not about keeping all those people who might vote for Democrats away from the polls.