Court Found Voter ID is Constitutional. It Is Also Good Policy. | Eastern North Carolina Now

    Publisher's Note: This post appears here courtesy of the John Locke Foundation. The author of this post is Dr.. Andy Jackson.

    When the North Carolina Supreme Court ruled on our state's voter ID law on April 28th, the justices only had to answer one narrow question: "[Does the voter ID law] violate the meaningful protections set forth in Article I, Section 19 of the North Carolina Constitution?"

    The court found that it does not.

    The state high court admonished a lower court for "flipping of the burden of proof and the failure to provide the presumption of legislative good faith."

    Justice Phil Berger Jr., who wrote the majority opinion, noted that the U.S. Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals made a similar finding when it overturned a lower court ruling against voter ID.

    Most remarkably, the Fourth Circuit concluded that "the district court improperly reversed the burden of proof and disregarded the presumption of legislative good faith," and that when the correct legal principles were applied to the plaintiffs' arguments, "the remaining evidence in the record fails to meet the Challengers' burden."

    The legal battle over voter ID is largely behind us. A case over the voter ID amendment (rather than the law that implemented it) is still unresolved as it slowly works its way back to the State Supreme Court after its decision last year, but it will likely not be a long-term impediment. The State Board of Elections is already preparing to implement voter ID for this year's municipal elections.

    Reminder: Voter ID is Good Policy

    As voter ID becomes part of our voting procedures, let's remember why it is good policy for election security.

    A 2014 study in the American Economist noted the difficulty in stopping, or even discovering the existence of, election fraud:

    The problem is that voter fraud is usually difficult to detect without costly monitoring and investigation costs, especially in light of mail-in votes and failure to require picture IDs. Cleary, voter fraud is real and can affect elections

    That finding fits with North Carolina's experience of election fraud being underreported and underinvestigated. Voter ID is a relatively inexpensive way to address one form of election fraud (voter impersonation).

    Claims that voter ID suppresses turnout have also been overhyped. A study of ten years' worth of data published in 2021 found that voter ID laws "have no negative effect on registration or turnout, overall or for any group defined by race, gender, age, or party affiliation."

    There are a host of situations in our lives that require presenting an ID, from boarding an airplane to buying beer to reentering the country. Requiring an ID to vote is not an undue burden.

    Those reasons are why a majority of North Carolina voters approved a constitutional amendment for our state to join the thirty-five states already require some form of voter ID.

poll#147
Do you consider Election Integrity an issue of some real importance, or just another conspiracy theory interfering with Democratic Socialist political hegemony?
  No, complete access to everyone voting, even in a willy nilly manner, is more important than getting it right by limiting access to those that would commit Voter Fraud.
  Yes, the most inalienable right of real citizens of this Democratic Republic is the Right to Vote, and that right shall remain sacrosanct for perpetuity.
  Again, I don't vote and I don't care.
729 total vote(s)     What's your Opinion?

Go Back


Leave a Guest Comment

Your Name or Alias
Your Email Address ( your email address will not be published)
Enter Your Comment ( no code or urls allowed, text only please )




Pfizer bankrolling radical child gender movement in hospitals Statewide, John Locke Foundation Guest Editorial, Editorials, Government, Op-Ed & Politics, State and Federal “Social-Emotional Learning” Is a Dangerous Fad


HbAD0

Latest State and Federal

The North Carolina Supreme Court heard arguments recently in a lawsuit brought by The Society for the Historical Preservation of the 26th North Carolina Troops against the City of Asheville over the removal of a monument
Like many other states, the North Carolina has received a lot of money from the federal government to address the impacts of the corona virus pandemic.
A Chinese national was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement after the bust of a massive marijuana operation in rural south Georgia last week.
Felon voting advocates argue in a new court filing that North Carolina's new election law should have no impact on their federal lawsuit.
The game show “Jeopardy!,” in which gives contestants must give answers in the form of a question, embraced the woke agenda by including so-called “neo-pronouns” as an answer.

HbAD1

On Thursday, Nov. 2, a group of protesters blocked the Durham Freeway (NC-147), the main artery through Durham and a major connector for the Research Triangle area, during rush hour.
The Tennessee state House passed a bill on Monday that would prohibit the flying of any flag other than the American flag and a few other official flags in public school classrooms, legislation that was sparked by the prevalence of pride flags in recent years.
US District Judge William Osteen heard nearly three hours of arguments Thursday in state Supreme Court Justice Anita Earls' lawsuit against the North Carolina Judicial Standards Commission.
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) emerged from a White House meeting with President Joe Biden and other congressional leaders on Tuesday, saying he stood firm on his view that immediate action to secure the southern border is the nation’s top priority.
House Republicans are demanding that Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas provide information on the illegal immigrant charged with murdering Georgia nursing student Laken Riley.

HbAD2

President Joe Biden took a few questions during a brief ice cream break with NBC late-night host and comedian Seth Meyers, telling reporters he hoped the United States could help facilitate a ceasefire in Gaza by Monday.

HbAD3

 
Back to Top