Legislative Watch: Protect the Right to Vote

Lame-duck North Carolina legislators are back in Raleigh, and our right to hold them accountable for their environmental policies is on the line.

The ruling clique of this General Assembly recognized last summer that their supermajority status was at risk in the elections earlier this month — and they indeed lost it in both chambers. That’s why they scheduled a lame-duck special session to begin tomorrow (Tuesday, November 27). They plan to take up a bill to restrict voting rights to citizens who hold one of a designated set of photo identifications with their name and current address.

These legislators know that there is no history of meaningful voter impersonation fraud in North Carolina. They also know that their proposed restrictions, supposedly meant to prevent this nonexistent voter fraud, are likely to make it harder for hundreds of thousands of North Carolina citizens to vote.

In fact, that’s the point. They’ve drafted legislation designed to make it harder to vote for several groups of voters who they know tend to vote heavily against their party’s candidates. These voters are likely to be poorer and voters of color. They’re less likely to have a driver’s license — and without one of those, getting one of the “free” alternative identification cards becomes a time-consuming and potentially expensive trek.

NCLCV and other citizen conservation advocates will stand with all those who favor equal justice for all, and who oppose voter suppression measures which have previously been declared by federal judges as targeting African-American voters “with almost surgical precision.”

NCLCV executive director Carrie Clark notes, “Our right to clean air and water is tied to our right to vote. Without it, polluters can do whatever they want. Legislators are scared of us, especially after the election. They know we’re unhappy with the direction they’re taking North Carolina. That’s why the lame ducks are taking up this bill now, instead of waiting until the new, more pro-environment legislature takes office in January.”

Now’s our chance to let our legislators know that we’re watching, and that we will remember unfavorably those who try to take away our neighbors’ constitutional right to vote. Join in that fight now by emailing your legislators!

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