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North Carolina NAACP denounces 'straight up' voter repression

North Carolina’s Republican Governor Pat McCrory signed expansive voting legislation into law last week requiring voters to provide a government-issued i.d. 

North Carolina’s Republican Governor Pat McCrory signed expansive voting legislation into law last week requiring voters to provide a government-issued i.d.  shortens the early voting period by seven days, ends early registration for teens, and ends same-day voter registration. Rev. Dr. William Barber said the new law, which also shortens the early voting period, same-day registration, and early registration for teens, was the “most vulgar attempt at voter suppression that we have seen in decades in a southern state.”

Barber, who is president of the North Carolina NAACP, filed one of the lawsuits against the law. He said that the new law not only violates both the 14th and 15th amendments but is also regressive legislation that is bad for the country as a whole.

The NAACP leader rejected Governor McCrory’s reinforcement of the voting legislation.

“We have had 18 million votes studied and found really no cases of fraud that would have been because of voter ID," Barber said today on Weekends with Alex Witt. "This is just voter suppression straight up.”

The rationale for restricting voters, Barber said, is an attempt to hold onto political influence and power.

“We have to—we cannot let this spread is around the nation, Alex. We have to stop it here in North Carolina because their goal is to test it in North Carolina, see if it can work and then spread it around the nation.”