September, 30 2013, 02:54pm EDT
ACLU Comment on Justice Department Lawsuit Challenging North Carolina Voter Suppression Law
NEW YORK - Attorney General Eric Holder today announced the Justice Department is suing to block implementation of the North Carolina voter suppression law that would remove seven days of early voting, eliminate same-day voter registration during the early voting period, and require photo ID to cast a ballot, among other restrictions. The suit also aims to once again require North Carolina to obtain preclearance from the federal government before making changes to its election rules.
NEW YORK
NEW YORK - Attorney General Eric Holder today announced the Justice Department is suing to block implementation of the North Carolina voter suppression law that would remove seven days of early voting, eliminate same-day voter registration during the early voting period, and require photo ID to cast a ballot, among other restrictions. The suit also aims to once again require North Carolina to obtain preclearance from the federal government before making changes to its election rules.
"North Carolina is engaging in a blatant attempt to make it harder for hundreds of thousands of eligible voters to cast a ballot," said Dale Ho, director of the American Civil Liberties Union's Voting Rights Project. "The Justice Department is right to take action against North Carolina's efforts to suppress the vote - particularly among people of color, poor people, and students. North Carolinians must be allowed to exercise their constitutional right to vote free of government interference."
The ACLU and the Southern Coalition for Social Justice have also filed a lawsuit challenging the law. This suit, filed on August 12, specifically targets the provisions that eliminate a week of early voting, end same-day registration, and prohibit "out-of-precinct" voting. It seeks to stop North Carolina from enacting these provisions, arguing that they would unduly burden the right to vote and discriminate against African-American voters, in violation of the U.S. Constitution's equal protection clause and the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
For more on the ACLU's lawsuit, please visit:
aclu.org/voting-rights/aclu-and-southern-coalition-social-justice-file-challenge-north-carolinas-voter
The American Civil Liberties Union was founded in 1920 and is our nation's guardian of liberty. The ACLU works in the courts, legislatures and communities to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to all people in this country by the Constitution and laws of the United States.
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United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres said Thursday that he is "deeply concerned" by Israel's "recent and extensive violations of Syria's sovereignty and territorial integrity," including a ground invasion and airstrikes carried out by the Israel Defense Forces in the war-torn Mideastern nation.
Guterres "is particularly concerned over the hundreds of Israeli airstrikes on several locations in Syria" and has stressed the "urgent need to de-escalate violence on all fronts throughout the country," said U.N. spokesperson Stephane Dujarric.
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Addressing the assassination of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson and conversations it has sparked about the country's for-profit system, longtime Medicare for All advocate Sen. Bernie Sanders on Wednesday condemned the murder and stressed that getting to universal coverage will require a movement challenging corporate money in politics.
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Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.)—a co-sponsor of Sanders' Medicare for All Act—similarly toldHuffPost in a Tuesday interview, "The visceral response from people across this country who feel cheated, ripped off, and threatened by the vile practices of their insurance companies should be a warning to everyone in the healthcare system."
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Reporters Without Borders' (RSF) 2024 roundup, which was published Thursday, found that at least 54 journalists were killed on the job or in connection with their work this year, and 18 of them were killed by Israeli armed forces (16 in Palestine, and two in Lebanon).
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