SCSJ releases Supreme Court response to North Carolina’s Emergency Voting Case Durham, NC — On Thursday, August 25, the League of Women Voters, represented by SCSJ, and other plaintiffs in State of North Carolina v. North Carolina State Conference of the NAACP asked the Supreme Court deny the State’s request to stay the Fourth Circuit’s […]
Votes Not Counted: April's Story
April Sidbury is a North Carolina registered voter whose vote was not counted due to the elimination of same day registration under the new voter suppression law (H.B. 589). Previously, voters were allowed to register and vote at the same time during the early voting period. April did not have a voice in this election […]
Votes Not Counted: Mat’s Story
Mat Windsor was denied the right to vote in this election because of a bureaucratic mistake that could not be corrected. Mat did everything right, but because the law passed by the North Carolina General Assembly (H.B. 589) in 2013 to “combat voter fraud” ended same day registration—the ability of voters to register (or to […]
Early Voting at Appalachian State University!
On October 21, 2014 the North Carolina Court of Appeals REFUSED to stay an order of Superior Court Judge Stephens requiring an early voting site on the campus of Appalachian State University in Boone, (Watauga County) North Carolina. On October 22, the State Board of Elections held an emergency meeting where they approved a plan […]
NC Voting Rights Setback at the U.S. Supreme Court
A personal message from SCSJ Executive Director Anita Earls You’ve probably heard that the U.S. Supreme Court has granted the state’s stay, undoing our hard work to ensure fair voting access to all eligible North Carolinians. This means that there will be no same day registration or out-of-precinct provisional voting in the November 2014 election. […]
Not sure where to early vote in NC? There's a map for that.
Finding a place to vote during North Carolina’s One-Stop Early Voting period has never been easier, thanks to a new searchable web map of the state’s early voting sites. Created by North Carolina Conservation Network, this interactive map lets users search for their nearest early voting site by entering their address in the search box […]
NY Times: 2 New Limits on Voting in North Carolina Are Rejected by U.S. Court
A federal appeals court on Wednesday forced North Carolina officials to restore two provisions for ballot access that had been eliminated in a law passed by the state’s Republican-controlled Legislature that civil rights groups said would disproportionately harm black voters. The 2-to-1 ruling by the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit restores […]
NC: Change in election laws discussed
By Jim Bradley for wsoctv.com Posted: 6:07 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 25, 2014 CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Elections officials will have to wait to find out if changes to North Carolina’s elections laws passed last year will be put on hold for November’s election. A three-judge panel from the United States Court of Appeals heard arguments for […]
Federal Appeals Court Hears Arguments on North Carolina's Restrictive Voting Law
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals heard oral arguments today on North Carolina’s restrictive voting law and whether key provisions can go into effect before the midterm election. The American Civil Liberties Union and the Southern Coalition for Social Justice are challenging provisions that eliminate a week of early voting, end same-day registration, […]
New ruling in NC voting rights case
Late on Friday, August 8th, Federal District Court Judge Thomas Schroeder issued a ruling in the lawsuit SCSJ and others are pursuing to stop the sweeping and harmful election law changes that the North Carolina General Assembly put into effect last year. You can read the 125-page opinion here. This is a partial victory […]
SCSJ Opposes Voter Suppression in Federal Court
Attorneys from the Southern Coalition for Social Justice, the ACLU Voting Rights Project, and the ACLU of North Carolina appeared in federal court this week to argue for a preliminary injunction that would prevent North Carolina from enforcing its voter suppression bill, H.B. 589, during the November 2014 election. The hearing included testimony from North […]
Federal Court Orders N.C. Lawmakers to Release E-Mail Related to Passage of State's Sweeping Voter Suppression Law
Federal Court Orders N.C. Lawmakers to Release E-Mail Related to Passage of State’s Sweeping Voter Suppression Law FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE March 27, 2014 CONTACT: Shoshannah Sayers, SCSJ, 919-323-3380, ext. 154; ShoshannahSayers@southerncoalition.org Inga Sarda-Sorensen, ACLU National, 212-549-2666, media@aclu.org Mike Meno, ACLU of North Carolina, 919-834-3466, mmeno@acluofnc.org WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – A federal court today ordered North Carolina state […]
Voting Rights Hearing 2/21/14
Background: On August 12, 2013, The Southern Coalition for Social Justice, American Civil Liberties Union, and ACLU of North Carolina Legal Foundation filed a lawsuit challenging North Carolina’s newly enacted voter suppression law, HB 589. The lawsuit was filed on behalf of several North Carolinians who will face substantial hardship under the law, and on […]
Voter ID – the major impact on women of color
The Southern Coalition for Social Justice has conducted a review of the 318,644 registered North Carolina voters from the 2012 elections who did not have a valid, DMV issued photo ID that matched the name on their voter registration card [1] and found that, of all registered voters, NC women voters are disproportionately affected by […]
SCSJ files federal lawsuit challenging NC's new Voter Suppression Law
August 12, 2013 The Southern Coalition for Social Justice, American Civil Liberties Union, and ACLU of North Carolina Legal Foundation today filed a lawsuit challenging North Carolina’s voter suppression law signed by Gov. Pat McCrory. The suit specifically targets provisions of the law that eliminate a week of early voting, end same-day registration, and prohibit […]
SCSJ Welcomes DOJ intervention to Stop NC Voter Suppression Law
September 30, 2013 The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) today filed a federal lawsuit seeking to prevent North Carolina from implementing voter suppression measures recently passed by the General Assembly. DOJ’s move underscores how the sweeping Voter Information Verification ACT (VIVA), which includes a photo ID requirement, reductions to early voting, the elimination of same […]
SCSJ weighs in on Watauga Elections Issues
August 30, 2013 […]
August Recap: Voting Rights Matter!
August has been a busy month for SCSJ’s voting rights team. When North Carolina’s Governor McCrory signed an anti-voting law considered the most restrictive in the country, SCSJ fought back. We filed a suit in federal court challenging new restrictions on early voting, the end of same-day voter registration, and the elimination of out-of-precinct provisional […]