StoryofAmerica's video: Sen Dan Blue on NC Voting Restrictions July 25 2013

Filmed by Story of America on July 25, 2013. North Carolina's voting restrictions are being challenged in federal court. The case will not be heard until 2015. On Oct. 1, 2014, a federal court has granted a preliminary injunction preventing 2 of North Carolina's voting restrictions from implementation for the 2014 midterm election. The infamous law impacting minorities, young people, and the poor was passed in 2013. Two of its provisions — 1 that eliminated same-day registration and 1 that disallowed votes that had been cast provisionally when someone went to the wrong polling place — will not go into effect unless and until it is ruled constitutional in a trial set for next year. The voter ID restriction was, by law, not set to go into effect until 2016. The early voting restriction WILL go into effect this year. Early voting was cut from 17 days to 10 days, a reliable recipe for creating long lines at the polls in the urban centers. The decision said it was too late to stop this restriction from going into effect with so little time before early voting would normally begin. Democrats argue that influencing the outcome of elections was the intent of the party-line voting restriction law. North Carolina's demographic and cultural shifts in recent years have put the state in play for Democratic presidential candidates (Obama won there in 2008 and nearly won in 2012). Although gerrymandering protects the Republican majorities in the General Assembly, Democrats believe they are passing voting restrictions to fortify the advantages Republicans drew for themselves by packing urban and African American voters into the smallest possible number of districts. Republicans argue that any opportunity to vote is an opportunity to commit voter fraud. Reducing early voting is not an attempt to create long lines at the polls in urban areas, but rather an attempt to cut down on the number of days that the People have the opportunity to cheat. They argue that same-day registration during early voting, which was eliminated in North Carolina with the passage of this law, creates the possibility of voter fraud. Allowing high school students to pre-register to vote, they argue, is confusing — and, its elimination has nothing to do with the greater representation of minorities among young people, nor their overwhelming tendency to vote for Democratic candidates. Similarly, other restrictions on voter registration, coupled with provisions that make it easier to challenge voters at the polls are security measures. And, increasing the amount of money that donors can legally give to campaigns is not a way to improve the electoral chances of Republicans, and, eliminating public financing for judges is not a way to throw an advantage to candidates that are willing to give favor to the wealthy and to corporations. More at: http://www.storyofamerica.org/voting_fan