Case Summary
In cases that highlighted the intersection between our justice system reform and voting rights work, Southern Coalition for Social Justice represented five individuals who were charged in Alamance County, North Carolina, with voting while ineligible due to criminal convictions.
We filed motions to dismiss the charges on the grounds that the statute allowing the state to seek felony convictions without proving knowledge or fraudulent intent was unconstitutionally enacted with racial animus and the intent to suppress the African-American vote. All of the felony charges were dismissed when our clients entered Alford pleas to misdemeanor obstruction of justice.
Why it's Important
The law that the "Alamance Five" was prosecuted under represents the last relics of Jim Crow measures meant to disenfranchise Black people and impede their efforts to help North Carolinians access the ballot. For more than 145 years, the voices of North Carolinians with felony convictions, many Black North Carolinians, were chilled by the selective and arbitrary enforcement of the law. The law has since been ruled unconstitutional.
Case Documents
Related Media
Statement Regarding Alamance County Voters Accused of Voting While Ineligible
Other Related Cases
Kivett v. North Carolina State Board of Elections
ABSENTEE VOTING | PENDING Case Summary Filed 10/02/2024 Updated 11/19/2024 The Republican National Committee (RNC), North Carolina Republican Party (NCGOP)…
Learn MoreRepublican National Committee v. North Carolina State Board of Elections, et. al.
The Republican National Committee (RNC) and the North Carolina Republican Party filed a complaint on Sept. 12 to stop University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC) students from using their digital Mobile One Cards as identification cards to vote in the 2024 election.
Learn MoreRepublican National Committee v. North Carolina State Board of Elections
The NC State Conference of the NAACP and two impacted NC voters requested to intervene in a case to protect nearly a quarter of a million voters from the Republican National Committee’s and North Carolina Republican Party’s baseless attempt to force the State Board of Elections to remove them from the state’s voter rolls on the eve of the 2024 presidential election.
Learn More