Common Cause NC statement on proposed voter ID amendment to NC Constitution

RALEIGH – The following is a statement from Bob Phillips, executive director of Common Cause NC, on today’s unveiling of a proposed amendment to the NC Constitution requiring photo identification in order to vote.

“The courts have already struck down an extreme voter ID requirement passed by the legislature in 2013, because it violated the constitutional rights of North Carolina citizens and targeted African-American voters with almost surgical precision. Now the same politicians in the legislature are at it again, attempting to create discriminatory barriers to voting and offering North Carolinians little information on how this new requirement will impact their right to vote.

“The vague nature of the legislature’s latest voter ID bill could open Pandora’s box to politicians making voting unnecessarily difficult for people throughout North Carolina, especially senior citizens, students and voters of color. It is wrong and dangerous to enshrine voter suppression and discrimination in our state’s Constitution.”

Common Cause NC is a nonprofit and nonpartisan organization dedicated to encouraging citizen participation in democracy.