Moments ago, a group of students and other North Carolinians moved into the office of N.C. Speaker of the House Thom Tillis and initiated a sit-in a la Wisconsin and Florida.
Those of us not at the NC General Assembly watched the arrests via Ustream. Approximately 20-30 individuals were arrested in just a matter of 15 minutes, and the speaker's office was cleared.
The sit-in is in protest of sweeping voter-suppression legislation that's currently being voted on by the N.C. General Assembly. Today's vote proceedings lasted until about 8 p.m. Eastern time, when a recess was called until tomorrow (July 25).
Democratic legislators are putting up a mighty fight against VIVA, a voting omnibus bill that will eliminate same-day registration during early elections, reduce early-voting days, place unfunded fiscal responsibilities for early voting on the counties, fine the parents of college/university students whose students vote on/near campus, require state-issued voter IDs, permit anyone (anyone) to challenge a voter at the polls, and implement a whole slew of other voter-suppression techniques.
Protests are expected to be renewed tomorrow, when HB 589 (VIVA/Election Reform) is taken up once again after an overnight recess.