An appeals court temporarily blocked a North Carolina voter ID law Tuesday — ruling it as discriminatory against African American voters.
The three-judge panel ruled the 2018 law's "primary motivating factor" was discrimination. They cited the law's provision of photo identification, which disallowed ID options mostly held by African American voters.
The panel wrote: "Such a choice speaks more of an intention to target African American voters rather than a desire to comply with the newly created Amendment in a fair and balanced manner. Defendants have yet to show [the law] would have been enacted in its current form irrespective of any alleged underlying discriminatory intent.”
The judges added the law would create additional confusion and, as a result, dissuade people from voting.
The law had already been blocked in a separate lawsuit, preventing it from taking effect for North Carolina's primaries on March 3.
This additional ruling makes it less likely the law will be enacted in the key battleground state by the 2020 general election.
