Justice Department will send election monitors to North Carolina.
The United States Department of Justice escalated its efforts to protect voting rights in North Carolina on Wednesday, informing four North Carolina counties—including Cumberland County—that it will send election monitors to observe the polls on Election Day.
The Cumberland County director of elections told the Fayetteville Observershe didn’t know why the federal observers were coming. But as TalkingPointsMemo’s Tierney Sneed noted, the answer is fairly obvious: Cumberland is at the epicenter of a voting rights crisis that has resulted in the purge of nearly 6,700 voters from the roll, most of them minorities. In Cumberland alone, about 5,600 people had their voting rights nullified over the past two years. The problem is a state law that allows any person to revoke any other person’s right to vote by gathering mail that was returned as undeliverable, then challenging the voter registration of residents at those addresses. If those voters do not appear at a county board of elections or return a notarized form, they are removed from the voter rolls, often without their knowledge.
Republican activists in North Carolina purged thousands of voters using this method until the NAACP stepped in with a lawsuit on Monday pointing out that the purges were illegal under federal law. The Justice Department supported the NAACP’s position, and a federal judge has called the purges “insane” Jim Crow–style voter suppression. She will likely soon rule that the purges are indeed unlawful.
But North Carolina has made many other attempts to restrict voting rights. In July, a federal appeals court held that the Legislature had targeted black voters “with almost surgical precision” by passing an omnibus bill that made it more difficult to vote throughout the state. The court blocked the law from taking effect—but Republican-controlled county election boards have continued to implement its most stringent measures. Reuters reported on Thursday that Republican election board chairmen colluded extensively to slash early voting, angrily ostracizing one chairman who agreed to open a Sunday voting site where black voters could cast ballots after church. The election boards encouraged each other to follow the “party line” and curtail early voting as extensively as possible.
The Justice Department, it seems, has concluded that state officials can no longer be trusted to protect North Carolinians’ voting rights. At this point, that’s not politics. It’s just a fact.
Read more Slate coverage of the election.
Tweet Share Share Comment相关文章
I went to an offline dating event for singles. Here's how it went.
It's a Wednesday night in south-east London and dozens of intrepid young single people are sitting c2024-09-22- 雅安日报讯近日,记者从汉源县公安局交警大队了解到,该大队富林中队结合“平安雅安”专项行动,积极开展“护卫天使”行动,切实加强校园周边道路交通秩序管理,确保校园周边道路交通安全、有序、畅通,保障广大师生2024-09-22
- 雅安市人民代表大会常务委员会任免名单2014年4月22日雅安市第三届人民代表大会常务委员会第二十次会议通过一、决定免去:张 桥的雅安市交通运输局局长职务。决定任命:谌试义为雅安市交通运输局局长。二、免2024-09-22
Best smart home deals this week
Our top picks:Best smart speaker dealEcho Dot (5th gen) with a free Sengled Smart Color Bulb$49.99 a2024-09-22- 雅安日报讯昨(21)日,副市长卯辉、李东带领市质监局、市工商局、市住建局、散装水泥办公室等部门负责人组成检查小组,对我市部分建筑材料企业和灾后重建项目进行检查。检查组一行先后来到雅安市雨城区恒泰昌建材2024-09-22
最新评论