Sep 5, 2024 Story by: Editor
DURHAM, N.C. (Sept. 5, 2024) — The North Carolina State Conference of the NAACP, along with an affected voter, is seeking to intervene in a lawsuit aimed at protecting nearly 250,000 voters from what they describe as a baseless effort by the Republican National Committee (RNC) and the North Carolina Republican Party to remove them from the state’s voter rolls just before the 2024 presidential election.
On Wednesday, the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, Southern Coalition for Social Justice (SCSJ), and Mayer Brown filed a motion to intervene on behalf of individual voter Sailor Jones and the NC NAACP. This action responds to the lawsuit initiated by the North Carolina Republican Party and RNC on August 23 in state court. The lawsuit could threaten eligible voters’ rights to vote based solely on an unreliable and flawed “analysis” targeting their registrations and ballots.
The intervention highlights that the relief sought by the North Carolina Republican Party and RNC is not only unreasonable and likely to disenfranchise hundreds of thousands of North Carolinians but is also barred by the National Voter Registration Act. This federal law limits systematic voter registration removals close to elections to protect eligible voters from disenfranchisement.
“For decades I’ve been able to vote for candidates of my choice in North Carolina. But now I am one of hundreds of thousands of eligible North Carolina voters who extremists want to deny their freedom to cast a ballot just days before voting begins in our state,” said Sailor Jones, an affected voter and Associate Director of Common Cause North Carolina. “This desperate effort to remove me and so many other North Carolinians from the voter rolls demands that we be able to make our voices heard in the courts so that we can once again make our voices heard at the ballot box. If these partisans using their national anti-voter playbook want to purge voters from our state’s voter rolls without a fight, they’ve come to the wrong place.”
Jennifer Nwachukwu, Senior Counsel with the Voting Rights Project at the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, commented, “This lawsuit, filed on the eve of the General Election, requests an unprecedented remedy—the removal of 225,000 lawfully registered voters. Through no fault of their own, our clients, both the members of the organization and the individual, were among the list of voters the Plaintiffs identified for cancellation. The right to vote is precious. Therefore, our clients seek to intervene and protect this fundamental right.”
Deborah Maxwell, President of the NC NAACP, stated, “The NC NAACP is participating in this voting suit just as we continuously fight against voter suppression, and this case is no different. Marginalized voters throughout this state have been consistently targeted through the exploitation of our elections. We stand behind the words of our mission statement to advance the political rights of Black and Brown voters, and we refuse to allow eligible voters to be disenfranchised, which is what the North Carolina Republican Party’s and RNC’s actions threaten.”
The complaint by the North Carolina Republican Party and RNC is based on the unfounded claim that the registrations of 225,000 individuals are invalid and should be canceled due to the absence of a driver’s license number or social security number on their voter registration forms. This litigation echoes other recent cases in North Carolina and across the U.S. that falsely assert that illegal ballots are influencing election outcomes—a conspiracy theory lacking any evidence.
“[But] the notion that these voters are ‘unlawfully’ registered to vote and must be purged is patently false,” the motion asserts. “The exclusion of this information from individuals’ voter registration forms is largely due to a simple fact – until December 2023, North Carolina’s voter registration forms made this information optional rather than mandatory.”
The filing also explains that there are various reasons why eligible voters in North Carolina might not have this information in their voter registration records.
“Plaintiffs are attacking the rights of eligible voters based on a gross misreading of fact and law mixed with unfounded and dangerous political conspiracies,” said Hilary Harris Klein, Senior Counsel for Voting Rights at SCSJ. “Not only would their requested relief disenfranchise hundreds of thousands of innocent voters, it would violate state and federal law. This last-minute, desperate action undermines the very integrity of our elections and shows a disturbing willingness to sacrifice the rights of voters for political gain.”
Derrick Johnson, President and CEO of the NAACP, remarked, “The NAACP is all-too familiar with last-ditch efforts to curtail access to the ballot box. Make no mistake – any attempts at disenfranchisement are steeped in racism, and pose a direct threat to Black voters. We won’t stand for this. Our National office is proud to continue supporting our units on the ground, providing the resources necessary to ensure democracy works for everybody.” Source: Lawyers Commettee
