Wake County Superior Court Judge Mike Morgan ruled yesterday that the lawsuit challenging the new voter I.D. law will not be dismissed, although he agreed to continue with a trial only after the March 2016 primaries.
Challengers of the I.D. law are arguing in state court that it violates Article I of the NC Constitution in adding a new "qualification" for voting. This lawsuit is totally separate from the suit in Federal court that was heard in Winston-Salem this summer. A ruling has not been issued in that case.
State lawmakers and The Gov are arguing in state court what they also argued in Federal court, that their 2015 amendment to Voter I.D. -- allowing anyone without the Republican state-mandated proper type of photo I.D. to swear to their incapacity to get one and thus vote a provisional ballot -- makes the suit against Voter I.D. moot.
Judge Morgan didn't agree with that argument.
Guaranteed: advocates on both sides of the fight will be gathering concrete evidence of the impact of photo voter I.D. requirements during the March primaries, unless, of course, that Federal judge in Forsyth County reaches a decision in the meantime that disables the whole enterprise.
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