NC NAACP Releases Open Letter to NC Association of County Commissioners

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

March 19, 2012

For More Information:     Rev. Dr. William J. Barber, II, President, 919-394-8137

                                         Atty. Jennifer Marsh, Interim Executive Director, 919-682-4700

(DURHAM) The North Carolina State Conference of the NAACP is releasing an open letter to the NC Association of County Commissioners today regarding some Boards of County Commissioners' attempts to gain the authority from the General Assembly to pass Voter Photo ID laws for their local elections. Tonight the voter-suppression campaign asks the Wake County Board of Commissioners to vote on a Local Resolution.  

###

NC NAACP OPEN LETTER TO THE NC ASSOCIATION OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS

David F. Thompson, Executive Director                                                           
North Carolina Association of County Commissioners

215 N. Dawson Street

Raleigh, NC 27603

Dear Mr. Thompson:

As you know, conservative county commissioners have persuaded their colleagues in several counties to seek authority from the General Assembly to impose a photo identification requirement on voters in their local elections. They seek this authority without presenting any evidence that the county has experienced a pattern of exceptional - or even minimal - voter impersonation, the only type of fraud addressed by a photo ID. The NAACP finds this tactic reprehensible. It reflects a shameful insensitivity to the disenfranchisement caused by such barriers to the ballot. Recently, the state's leading conservative legal center issued a memo telling your members this tactic is doomed to failure.

I attach a memo written by Jeanette Doran, the Executive Director of the NC Institute for Constitutional Law, an outfit almost entirely funded by the family foundation of Raleigh businessman Art Pope. Her memo says the "equal protection" guaranteed by the U.S. and N.C. Constitutions means county commissions are wasting their time and placing themselves in jeopardy of lawsuits by seeking authority from the State to impose voting restrictions on their citizens different from those faced by citizens in other counties.

I also attach the November 23, 2011 analysis by Grayson Kelley, Chief Deputy Attorney General of NC. He described several ways such county initiatives could be challenged as unconstitutional. You may be certain the NAACP will challenge any attempt to deny our members and other voters their right to vote because they fail to show an official photo ID.

We hope responsible county commissioners will recognize that the boiler-plate resolutions in favor of photo IDs are political propaganda . . . not good government. They raise the ugly specters of obstacles to minority and poor peoples' access to voting in the not-too-distant past that effectively intimidated and suppressed the people who need the ballot more than anyone.

We respectfully request that you send copies of the two memos and this letter to your members so they are aware of the widespread consensus against seeking local voting restrictions. I look forward to hearing from you.

Sincerely,

Rev. Dr. William J. Barber II

North Carolina State Conference of the NAACP, President

National NAACP Board Member 

Download Enclosures by clicking:

NC Institute for Constitutional Law Memorandum, February 12, 2012

Chief Deputy Attorney General Grayson Kelley Memorandum

###