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Appeals court blocks some North Carolina voting changes

A federal appeals court has blocked North Carolina from ending same-day voter registration and out-of-precinct voting in connection with this fall's elections.

In a 2-1 ruling issued Wednesday, the 4th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals said the changes appeared to run afoul of Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, a provision that prohibits practices that discriminate on the basis of race.

Judge James Wynn, joined by Judge Henry Floyd, found that the district court erred by determining that it did not matter that North Carolina was ending practices it had previously allowed — voting mechanisms that minorities disproportionately used.

"In this case, North Carolina’s previous voting practices are centrally relevant under Section 2. They are a critical piece of the totality-of-the-circumstances analysis Section 2 requires. In refusing to consider the elimination of voting mechanisms successful in fostering minority participation, the district court misapprehended and misapplied Section 2," Wynn wrote in the court's majority opinion (posted here).

Wynn also said "the district court failed to adequately consider North Carolina’s history of voting discrimination. ...The Supreme Court’s observation that a state’s history should not serve to condemn its future, however, does not absolve states from their future transgressions."

Judge Diana Motz dissented, saying the appeals court should not effectively issue an injunction in the case. She said she shared some of her colleagues' views that the district court may have incorrectly applied the law or misjudged the facts. However, she said the majority had given short shrift to the disruptive effect of a federal court seeking to change voting procedures about five weeks before an election.

"Had I been overseeing this case in the district court, I might have reached a different conclusion about Plaintiffs’ chances of success on the merits. But neither I nor my colleagues oversaw this case and its 11,000-page record," wrote Motz. "Though I share some of my colleagues’ concerns about the district court’s legal analysis, those concerns do not establish that plaintiffs have shown a clear likelihood of success on the merits."

She added: "In addition to the burden it places on the State, an about-face at this juncture runs the very real risk of confusing voters who will receive incorrect and conflicting information about when and how they can register and cast their ballots."

North Carolina officials now have the option of trying to get the full bench of the 4th Circuit to overturn the new ruling or asking the Supreme Court to step in.

Both Wynn and Floyd are Obama appointees. Motz is a Clinton appointee.

CORRECTION (Wednesday, 1:10 p.m.): A previous version of this post gave an incorrect first name for Floyd.