DOWNLOAD VIDEO New voting laws in North Carolina and other states are raising concerns about voter turnout in advance of the Nov. 4 midterm elections. Recent court rulings have changed polling requirements in 18 states. In North Carolina, new laws mandate voters present a photo ID in order to vote. They also ban same-day registration and out-of-precinct voting, and cut back on the number of early voting days available to voters. The NAACP and the Department of Justice are suing North Carolina, claiming that the laws violate the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which aimed to protect the vote of minority groups. Last year, the Supreme Court struck down key parts of the Voting Rights Act of 1965; in particular, it gave states the ability to change election laws without oversight from the federal government in Washington, DC. The Voting Rights Act was designed to override laws that prevented African-Americans from voting. Voting laws are different in every state. 30 states currently require voters to present ID in order to vote, but more than 21 million Americans—or 11 percent of U.S. citizens—lack government-issued ID, which negatively impacts their ability to vote in those states. Officials who support voter ID laws say such measures are necessary to prevent in-person election fraud. However civil rights groups claim that voter fraud has never affected the outcome of an election, and that the laws aim to restrict voting in populations that are most affected by voting requirements, particularly young people and people of color. North Carolina recently scaled back activities such as same-day registration and early voting.

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Warm up questions

1. What is the purpose of voting in a democratic nation? What effect does voting have on local, state and federal government?


2. Do you vote or would you vote if you were 18 years old? Explain your answers.


3. In the history of the United States, several groups have not always had the right to vote. Which groups were they and what impact do you think their exclusion had on the country?

Critical thinking questions

1. How does the involvement of the three branches of the U.S. government impact the average citizen’s right to vote? Think about the responsibilities of each branch and connect them to the act of voting.


2. The new North Carolina voter law includes:
   
   
   
   
   • a photo I.D. requirement
   
   
   • a ban on same-day registration
   
   
   • no out-of-precinct voting
   
   
   • a reduction in the number of early voting days.
   
   
   
   
   Do you think that the new law will impact people’s ability to vote? Which groups do you think it will affect most and why? Use the video and text to support your answer.


3. Marilyn Avila, one of the sponsors of the new law, says the Supreme Court was right to lift the restrictions. She says the fact that one in five state lawmakers is African American shows that North Carolina has moved on from its troubled history. Do you think that this is a good measure of whether the Voting Rights Act is still needed? What are other ways to assess the need or lack of it?