A host of data collected by Democracy North Carolina shows how legislation to change election rules would significantly affect the voters in each county. For example, the bill to require that voters show a government photo ID could impact nearly 5% of North Carolina voters, according to the Board’s analysis conducted this spring. Statewide, 318,000 registered voters do not appear to have a NC driver’s license or state identity card. Counties with a high percent of non-white populations are most affected: 8.6% of voters in Bertie County lack a NC ID, compared to 2.8% in Davie County. (By the way, Rachel Maddow has a new feature from another Republican leader in Pennsylvania who admits the ID requirement is all about depressing the Obama vote.)
The report by Democracy North Carolina also includes county-by-county data on the impact of reducing the Early Voting period and ending Same-Day Registration. The state Senate is expected to unveil its grab-bag of anti-voting measures Tuesday afternoon, likely rolled into its version of the voter ID bill, H-589. Senate Republicans have the numbers to pass any package they want, and it could be very extreme given who they are listening to. Then the House will get the mess in its lap with a Thursday deadline looming. And the public will basically be left out altogether, able to watch but have little input or influence over what could be the most sweeping elections bill in decades.
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