North Carolina Republicans, eager to exercise their vice grip over the levers of power in the state for the first time since Reconstruction, recently passed a radical voting 'reform' law that Governor Pat McCrory just signed that among other things implemented a Voter ID provision. While you've likely heard of this aspect of the law, it also does some other dastardly things and make no mistake: all of them are designed to unfairly disadvantage the Democrats.
So here's a quick summary of what the new law does:
- Implements Voter ID; acceptable types of ID are:
Driver's license, passport, Military/veteran ID, tribal ID, but not student IDs
- Eliminates one week of early voting
- Eliminates same day registration during early voting
- Eliminates Sunday voting during early voting
- Eliminates straight ticket voting
- Eliminates pre-registration for 16-17 year olds
- Eliminates public financing for judicial elections
- Prohibits casting a provisional ballot at a precinct other than your own
- Repeals 'stand by your ad' where groups and candidates have to claim responsibility on the air for ads
- 3rd party groups can now spend unlimited amounts of money between the primary and early September without disclosing sources or even amounts. Disclosure is only required in even number years and after September 7th.
- Raises the max contribution limit from $4,000 to $5,000 and indexes to CPI.
- 3rd party groups no longer have to disclose their five largest donors when they run ads or mailers.
Voter ID comes into effect for the 2016 cycle, but everything else goes into effect for 2014.
The changes to early voting will depress turnout, especially among the young, poor, and minorities. Disallowing Sunday voting in particular is targeted towards the "Souls to the Polls" movement that Black churches would do after Sunday services. Banning pre-registration obviously is intended to lower turnout among heavily Democratic young people.
But what is under-reported and quite frightening is the changes in campaign finance. Judicial elections, where the Republican party massively outspent Democrats in the very close 2012 Supreme Court race, will no longer have public financing available. 3rd party groups can now give unlimited and undisclosed amounts at various points in the election cycle. Now the likes of Art Pope, North Carolina's very own David Koch, can wholesale buy elections for Republicans.
And then there's Voter ID. This provision is a thinly disguised poll tax in that it requires a photo ID that hundreds of thousands of registered voters don't have. These are voters who are relatively much poorer and less white than the general electorate and thus lean Democratic. Student IDs are notably not allowed even when issued by governmental bodies such as the UNC system.
The most under-reported of all though is the massive gerrymandering that Republicans forced on the state and which Democrats have little recourse to combat. There is very strong reason to believe that the Democratic Party won the popular vote for the state legislature in North Carolina, but Republicans now have veto proof majorities.
So what can we do about it? Well first off various lawsuits have been filed and it is likely that US Attorney General Eric Holder will get involved, but these suits will only impact Voter ID if at all. The Democratic Party's best recourse is to give Pat McCrory the boot in 2016, take the currently 3D-4R state Supreme Court by 2020 to strike down their next gerrymander, and/or take either chamber of the legislature to block it after 2020.
But remember, this whole situation boils down to one simple fact. The Republican Party realizes that if everyone who wants to vote could do so and have their vote counted that they would lose. Election rigging in the United States is very real people and this is the face of it.