Gov. Perdue called the General Assembly back to town yesterday to give the legislature its constitutional opportunity to override her veto of the bill killing the Racial Justice Act. The state House couldn’t muster the votes to do that (at least 60% of those voting must approve), but rather than go home as promised in an agreement with Democrats, the Republican leadership then spent hours plotting a series of maneuvers to take up other bills vetoed by Perdue. At nearly 1 AM this morning, the House overrode her veto of a bill to strip the teachers’ association of its right to use the payroll check-off system to collect dues for the NCAE; state employees in SEANC were not targeted for similar action. Two Democrats joined the Republicans in the 69-45 vote, but one or both would not go along with override votes planned for the photo ID bill and a bill to authorize fracking in North Carolina – so the House finally adjourned until February 16. The surprises, broken promises, and outrage are captured in this reporting by Laura Leslie/WRAL and the video of a Democratic press conference around 1:30 AM.

The US Justice Department refused to approve South Carolina’s strict photo ID requirement for voters, saying the evidence indicated that African Americans registered to vote in the state are 20% more likely not to have one of the required forms of ID than white voters. Federal approval or “pre-clearance” is required for election changes in South Carolina under the 1965 Voting Rights Act, which Congress and President Bush renewed in 2006. Forty counties in North Carolina with a history of racial discrimination in elections are also covered by VRA’s pre-clearance provision; that means the harsh photo ID bill passed by Republicans but vetoed by Gov. Perdue would also need federal approval if the GOP ever succeeds in overcoming Perdue’s veto. In response to a public records request from Democracy North Carolina, the State Board of Elections matched its records with DMV records and initially found that about 1 million voters do not have a current driver’s license or state photo ID. After culling out near-matches and people who likely have moved, the number drops to about 460,000 – and African Americans are almost twice as likely as whites not to have the photo ID (12% of black voters lack the ID compared to nearly 7% of white voters). That’s a much greater racial disparity than found in South Carolina, which suggests the NC legislation would also run into trouble on pre-clearance. South Carolina officials say they will challenge the Justice Department’s action, no doubt attacking the constitutionality of the Voting Rights Act itself and hoping the uber-biased majority on the current US Supreme Court will comply. The VRA has withstood repeated attack and gained bipartisan support over the years. Last week, a federal judge upheld the VRA’s pre-clearance provisions against a challenge from NC Rep. Stephen LaRoque and others in Kinston, North Carolina. That case could also be headed for the Supreme Court.

Facing South has a splendid entry today about the continuing drama over imposing harsh photo ID laws on voters. It begins by noting that US Attorney General Eric Holder is expected to deliver a landmark speech today declaring that the federal government will become a more active player by fulfilling its responsibility to protect voting rights. It includes a link to a report from the Republican National Lawyers Association, which oddly enough documents the point it wants to refute: cases of voter fraud are very rare and the cases that a photo ID would prevent are even more rare. There are other valuable links in the Facing South blog. Here’s one more: The ACLU today filed a federal lawsuit against Wisconsin’s new voter ID law as an unconstitutional infringement of citizens’ voting rights. Read the brief profiles of the plaintiffs in the news release and you’ll understand why a strict photo ID law ruins, rather than protects, the integrity of free and fair elections.

As mentioned a few days ago, county commissioners in several counties have adopted resolutions asking for authority from the General Assembly to impose a voter ID requirement in their local elections. Now comes word that the NC Attorney General’s office that such an approach would run into constitutional problems for a number of reasons. NC Policy Watch posted the AG’s letter and some data from Democracy North Carolina. The letter from the AG to Gov. Perdue’s attorney says the constitution only permits the General Assembly to adopt “general” (i.e., statewide) laws regarding the registration of voters for election; local bills are not allowed. Different requirements in different jurisdictions would also violate the equal protection clause of the US and state constitutions. In addition, circumvention of the governor’s veto with a series of local ID bills is prohibited by the NC constitution. It’s hard to know if this advice will slow the Republican/Civitas effort to pass more local resolutions, but it helps blow a hole in the strategy. Democracy NC’s numbers highlight the blinders worn by local and state ID advocates; they don’t see a problem because white men with property (e.g., 26 of 27 commissioners who voted for resolutions) invariably have a photo ID. But go into poor communities and the picture is different. In fact, 15 of the 25 counties with the highest percent of voters lacking a NC photo ID are also among the 25 counties with the highest rate of poverty; and 13 of the 25 counties with the lowest percent of voters lacking a NC photo ID are among the 25 counties with the lowest rate of poverty. These correlations become even stronger when the county’s racial and rural make-up are factored in.

The effort to impose a hard-line ID requirement on voters has moved to the county level in North Carolina. In the last few weeks, Republican majorities on four County Commissions have adopted resolutions asking the General Assembly for authority to make voters show a government photo ID in their local elections. All 22 white Republican Commissioners in these four counties – Gaston, Davidson, Craven, and Rowan – voted for the resolutions, while the 3 Democrats opposed them. The racial and partisan divisions in the photo ID debate are hard to miss: A black voter in these counties is twice as likely as a white voter to not have a current NC photo ID, according to an analysis by the State Board of Elections. Gov. Bev Perdue vetoed the state photo ID bill (H-351) and another override attempt will likely happen, although probably not in the brief session scheduled after Thanksgiving. But legislators are expected to introduce other bills affecting elections, as well as “local bills” to authorize local governments to impose the ID barrier. Former NC Chief Justice Burley Mitchell says that even if legislators call it a “local bill,” changing voting requirements is a state action, protected by the state constitution, so a “local bill” would trigger a possible veto and lawsuit. There are many reasons to not waste tax money on producing or policing photo IDs or creating barriers that harm certain voters much more than others. A commissioner in Columbus County, where the resolution was tabled, got it right: “I would think that our legislators would have a more pressing matter,” he said. “I think they can be looking at job bills as opposed to voter ID bills.”