Soon after that decision, state Republican leaders pushed for a November 2018 referendum to change the state constitution and require voters to present voter ID. And then, Republicans passed a law, known as Senate Bill 824, that implemented the voter ID requirement. The N.C. NAACP and several local chapters, including the Winston-Salem chapter, filed a federal lawsuit challenging the law.

On Friday, attorneys for House Speaker Tim Moore and Senate Leader Phil Berger filed a motion asking to intervene in the lawsuit and to grant an emergency stay in Biggs’ decision. In a news release that Republicans sent out Friday, Sen. Warren Daniel (R-Burke) said, “The votes of two million citizens to amend their own Constitution to require voter ID were thrown out by one unelected Democratic judge. The legislature will fight with every tool at our disposal to reverse this lawless decision that overturns the will of the people.”