Democrats file lawsuit to restore last Saturday early voting in North Carolina
State and national Democrats have filed suit over North Carolina’s 2018 early voting law, seeking to restore voting on the Saturday before Election Day and claiming the law “unconstitutionally burdens North Carolinians’ right to vote.”
The lawsuit was filed in Wake County on Monday by the North Carolina Democratic Party, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. It asks the court to declare the law unconstitutional.
Senate Bill 325 was passed in 2018 by the state’s Republican-controlled General Assembly. Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper vetoed the bill, but GOP lawmakers easily overrode the veto. In November 2018, Republicans lost their veto-proof majorities in the state House and Senate.
North Carolina allowed voting on the Saturday before Election Day in 2018’s general election, but it will not be in place for 2020 if changes are not made. There is a bill (SB 683) that has passed both chambers of the General Assembly that would restore last Saturday early voting permanently, but it has been stuck in a conference committee since early October.
The Saturday before Election Day was the most popular day for early voting in 2018, according to the complaint, with more than 135,000 voters (6.9% of all early votes cast) though early voting was open only in the morning in most counties. It is particularly popular, the complaint said, among key parts of the Democratic coalition — African American voters and young voters.
“North Carolina Democrats are committed to lowering hurdles to the ballot box, not erecting new ones, and we will never waver from our commitment to make voting easier and more accessible for North Carolina families,” North Carolina Democratic Party chairman Wayne Goodwin said in a statement.
The lawsuit also attacks another part of Senate Bill 325, known as “The Uniform and Expand Early Voting Act.” The law requires that any one-stop early voting sites in a county, outside of the county board office, be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. in even years. Some counties said the cost of the law prompted them to reduce the number of early voting locations.
“This pattern is likely to repeat itself for the 2020 general election,” the complaint says.
“We are committed to protecting the early vote program so that North Carolinians may exercise their rights without unfair obstacles,” said Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, a Nevada Democrat and the chairwoman of the DSCC.
Said Rep. Cheri Bustos, an Illinois Democrat and chairwoman of the DCCC: “I am proud to stand up for North Carolinians’ ability to vote early, and I look forward to the day where access to the ballot isn’t treated as a partisan issue, but rather a universal American value.”
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This story was originally published October 28, 2019 at 12:11 PM with the headline "Democrats file lawsuit to restore last Saturday early voting in North Carolina."
