Leaders Demand Cooper Resign Or Do His Job | Eastern North Carolina Now

    RALEIGH, NC     Leaders from the NCGA House and Senate continued the call for Roy Cooper to defend the common-sense voter ID law or resign as the appeal heads to the Supreme Court. This week, Governor McCrory sent the appeal to Chief Justice John Roberts, who is waiting for a response from the plaintiffs that is due by August 25. Cooper announced after the Fourth Circuit ruling that he would no longer defend the voter ID law on behalf of the state.

    "The voter reforms that we passed in 2013 ensure the integrity of the system," stated Rep. David Lewis, the champion of the common sense Voter ID law. "We want extraordinary voter turnout. We want to make sure that everyone who is eligible to vote to cast that vote because that's key to our democracy. We are fighting for the gold standard where all eligible votes determine who wins and loses our elections. I completely and totally reject the arguments from the outside groups fighting this common sense law, which is widely supported across the political spectrum, that specific demographic groups are incapable of obtaining photo ID."

    "Roy Cooper is the senior partner of a very large firm with hundreds of lawyers," said Rep. Skip Stam. "Could you imagine if I send my junior partners to defend a law while publicly stating that I hope the state's case fails and how bad the state's case was? I would face discipline from the N.C Bar and I'd lose a lot of my clients, and that is exactly what Cooper has done. Voter ID is not a new idea, despite what the Fourth Circuit tried to argue. We've been trying to implement photo voter ID since the very close Bush/Gore election in 2000. The 2005 report co-chaired by Jimmy Carter and James Baker supported it."

    "It's a normal expectation for the people of North Carolina to show up and do their jobs each and every day," continued Sen. Buck Newton, candidate for Attorney General. "Why should Roy Cooper be held to a different standard than the people of North Carolina? Perhaps Cooper isn't doing his job because of the donations he's receiving from the very people fighting the voter ID law. I am proud to stand with Governor McCrory to fight this case all the way to the Supreme Court of the United States, which has already upheld voter ID. It's time for him to resign or do his job, and I am happy to volunteer to do his job since he doesn't want to."

• Contact: Kami Mueller
•     Kami.Mueller@ncgop.org