— The North Carolina legislative session is expected to wrap up its work next month, but before lawmakers leave, they may consider some constitutional amendments for voters to decide on in November.

One of those amendments among the six or so that could be considered is a voter ID proposal, and local lawmakers are already being targeted over it.

A new group calling itself Secure Democracy is paying for mailers urging voters to call Reps. Nelson Dollar, R-Wake, and Chris Malone, R-Wake, to oppose any proposal to to enact a new voter identification law, which would require voters to show accepted forms of identification before they can cast a ballot.

Secure Democracy maintains that lawmakers should focus instead on such issues as election cyber-security.

The group points to a poll that shows a majority of voters are more concerned about hacking than voter ID.

Republicans say, however, that they can address both.

Voter ID has had a rocky history in North Carolina.

The Republican-controlled legislature passed a law in 2013, only to have it thrown out three years later after federal courts ruled lawmakers had improperly targeted minority voters.

This year, they're planning to try again, this time with a constitutional amendment.

Allison Riggs, a lawyer for the Southern Coalition for Social Justice, says it's political red meat aimed at increasing GOP turnout during the November midterm election.

"Just two years ago, the 4th Circuit (Court of Appeals) said that the legislature was racially discriminatory when they enacted this law, so they think, if they pass the buck on to voters, that will somehow give them the appearance of, 'It wasn't us, it was them,'" she said. "What they shouldn't be doing is trying to manipulate turnout and political outcomes in a way that disenfranchises voters."

Riggs helped argue the case against the 2013 law. She says putting voter ID on the ballot won't stop federal courts from overturning it again.

Dollar disagrees.

He said the problem last time was other provisions in the law and not the voter ID measure.

"I think what needs to be looked at is a voter identification bill that doesn't have other things attached to it, (and) that's a clean bill that will be in line with the rulings of the United States Supreme Court," he said.

Despite being targeted by political ads from Secure Democracy, Dollar said he is in full support of the idea.



"I hear from the voters constantly at the polling places that they want voter ID," he said. "In fact, it's the No. 1 issue that I've heard year after year after year at polling places."

Riggs is not affiliated with Secure Democracy, but she agrees with the group that lawmakers shouldn't consider it this year.

"I saw tens of thousands of people in red shirts in Raleigh. I don't think they were marching about voter ID," she said, referencing the teacher rally on May 16 when hundreds of educators showed up at the state Capitol demanding better teaching conditions. "So there are pressing issues that need to be dealt with. This is not one of them."