RALEIGH—After a failed attempt at a statewide voter ID requirement in 2010, GOP House leadership is once again pushing for a voter ID requirement in North Carolina.
Republican lawmakers introduced the Voter Information Verification Act—or VIVA—in the state House on Thursday.
The 2010 attempt appeared to be promising for ID proponents—passing in both chambers before being vetoed by then-Gov. Beverly Perdue, a Democrat. Republicans attempted to override Perdue’s veto, but fell short of the votes required to do so.
House Speaker Thom Tillis, R-Mecklenburg, on Thursday announced Republicans planned to file a bill to implement a photo identification system for voting—a move both parties have been anticipating since the General Assembly opened its session in January.
Reps. Harry Warren, R-Rowan; Tom Murry, R-Wake; Tim Moore, R-Cleveland; and Ruth Samuelson, R-Mecklenburg, filed VIVA, or House Bill 589, Thursday afternoon.
According to the bill, VIVA is intended to “restore confidence in government” and promote the electoral process “through education and increased registration of voters.” The bill also seeks to “require voters to provide photo identification before voting to protect the right of each registered voter to cast a secure vote with reasonable security measures that confirm voter identity as accurately as possible without restriction.”
“We are here to announce that after a deliberate and transparent process, we will be filing a voter ID bill today that protects the integrity of the ballot box and respects the sanctity of the right to vote,” Tillis said at a press conference Thursday.
Calling the bill a “sweeping effort to improve North Carolina’s voting process,” legislation, if approved, would be fully implemented by 2016, Tillis said. The measure will utilize the 2014 elections as “a bridge to identify which voters may be without an accepted form of photo ID – and establishes a program to help citizens acquire a free photo identification card through the Department of Motor Vehicles,” Tillis said.
The North Carolina chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) on Friday called the bill a “new poll tax.” NAACP leaders also attacked the timing of the bill, which was filed on the 45th anniversary of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
“The North Carolina House Speaker Thom Tillis stooped to a new moral low ground yesterday. Speaker Tillis and other extremists in his group chose April 4, a day that will live in infamy, to introduce a new tax on voting, disguised as voter ID, obviously designed to suppress voting by people of color, the elderly, students and other voters who don’t have driver’s licenses,” the Rev. William Barber, N.C. NAACP chapter president, said.
“This is not a compromise. This is part of an all-out attack on the voting rights of the most marginalized segments of our society.”
The House Committee on Elections will host a public hearing on voter identification at 4 p.m. Wednesday, April 10, in room 643 of the legislative office building. Click here for more information or to sign up to speak at the hearing.
Click here to read the full bill.
Caroline Curran is the managing editor at Port City Daily. Reach her at (910) 772-6336 or [email protected]. On Twitter at @cgcurran.
