RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — North Carolina’s Republican governor and GOP lawmakers are vowing to fight a lawsuit filed by the U.S. Justice Department challenging the state’s tough new elections law on the grounds it disproportionately impacts minority voters.
Gov. Pat McCrory says the federal complaint filed Monday is an overreach and without merit. McCrory says he has hired private lawyers to help defend the new law from what he suggested was a partisan attack by President Barack Obama’s Democratic administration.
North Carolina’s new law cuts early voting by a week, ends same-day voter registration and includes a stringent photo ID requirement.
More than 70 percent of African-Americans who cast a ballot in North Carolina during the past two presidential elections voted early. Studies show minority voters are also more likely to lack a driver’s license.
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