If you've seen our coverage of recent developments in North Carolina, including Rachel's live broadcast from the Tar Heel State two weeks ago, you probably know about Montravias King, a student at Elizabeth City State University, a historically black university in the Northeastern corner of the state.
As part of the remarkable voter-suppression efforts underway in the state, led by Republican officials including Gov. Pat McCrory (R), King was denied an opportunity to run for local office after Republicans on the country elections board said he couldn't use his campus address.
Today, that decision was, thankfully, reversed.
The state Board of Elections on Tuesday unanimously agreed that an Elizabeth City State University student can run for local office, reversing a decision by the Pasquotank County elections board.Montravias King registered to run for the Elizabeth City board on July 19 when he was a student at the historically black college in the Pasquotank County seat.King, a senior who has been active in the local NAACP and other civic activities in his college community, used his on-campus address when he filed to run for office.
The challenge to King's candidacy was brought by ... wait for it ... the chairman of the county Republican Party.
What's the difference between the legal requirements needed to run for office in North Carolina and the legal requirements needed to vote? There is no difference. If Montravias King could be denied to right to use his campus address to be a candidate then, by the same reasoning, college students in North Carolina could be denied their right to vote using their campus address.
Today, however, King won a major victory with sweeping repercussions. Rachel will have more on this on tonight's show. [Update: Here's the segment from Monday night.]