A federal judge formally blocked North Carolina’s new voter identification law on Tuesday, ruling that discriminatory intent was likely a motivating factor in how the measure was crafted.
The decision from US district judge Loretta Biggs could have big consequences in North Carolina, a key state in the 2020 presidential election that is scheduled to hold its presidential primary on 3 March. Donald Trump carried the state in 2016, but Governor Roy Cooper, a Democrat, won in 2016, by just over 10,000 votes.
This week’s ruling was a blow to state Republicans, who overrode a veto from Cooper to enact the law last year. The measure came two years after North Carolina’s previous voter ID law was struck down as part of a host of voting restrictions a federal appeals court said targeted African Americans “with almost surgical precision”. African Americans make up about one-fifth of registered voters in North Carolina. Turnout among African Americans dropped six percentage points from 2012 to 2016.