A federal judge struck down a controversial voting law impacting North Carolina felons.
The law, originally passed in 1877, made it a Class I felony for people who vote in North Carolina without having their rights restored.
The North Carolina Constitution bans felons from voting unless their rights have been restored by state law, though a law passed last year clarified that only those who knew their rights had not been restored could be charged with a new felony.
According to The Hill, the North Carolina A. Philip Randolph Institute Inc. and Action NC brought the suit to court, arguing the law violated the Constitution’s equal protection clause by targeting Black voters in 2020.
U.S. District Judge Loretta Biggs wrote that the law “was enacted with discriminatory intent, has not been cleansed of its discriminatory taint, and continues to disproportionately impact Black voters.”
“Record evidence demonstrating this inconsistency in District Attorneys’ interpretation and enforcement of the Challenged Statute — that some believed that the Challenged Statute included a requirement of intent while others did not — compels the conclusion that the Challenged Statute permits a ‘standardless sweep’ that allows prosecutors to ‘pursue their personal predilections’ under the Challenged Statute,” Biggs wrote.
Battleground state polling has been more favorable to Trump. Decision Desk HQ averages report Trump leading in Michigan, Arizona, Georgia, Nevada and North Carolina.
A Mason-Dixon North Carolina poll found Trump with 49 percent support among voters in the Tar Heel State, while Biden brought in 43 percent. Another 8 percent were undecided.
However, North Carolina’s Democrat Gov. Roy Cooper said Wednesday that he thinks Biden can win the state this November after Trump took the state in both 2016 and 2020.
The Biden campaign is targeting North Carolina as a possible flip opportunity in 2024 but has acknowledged it will “take relentless effort” to reach the voters it needs by November.
In western North Carolina, Trump is up by a whopping 30 points, according to the poll — while Biden is ahead 18 points in the Triangle area around Raleigh and Durham, and is up more narrowly in the Charlotte metro area.
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