Opinion ID: 2738874
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Same-Day Registration

Text: In 2007, the General Assembly passed legislation permitting same-day registration at early-voting sites. The law provided that “an individual who is qualified to register to vote may register in person and then vote at [an early-voting] site in the person’s county of residence during the period for [early] voting provided under [Section] 163-227.2.” 2007 N.C. Sess. Laws 253, § 1 (codified at N.C. Gen. Stat. § 163-82.6A(a) (2008)). The law required a prospective voter to complete a 14 voter-registration form and produce a document to prove his or her current name and address. Id. (codified at N.C. Gen. Stat. § 163-82.6A(b) (2008)). If the registrant wanted to vote immediately, he or she could “vote a retrievable absentee ballot as provided in [Section] 163-227.2 immediately after registering.” Id. (codified at N.C. Gen. Stat. § 163-82.6A(c) (2008)). Within two business days, both the pertinent county board of elections and the State Board of Elections were required to verify the voter’s driver’s license or social security number, update the database, proceed to verify the voter’s proper address, and count the vote unless it was determined that the voter was not qualified to vote. Id. (codified at N.C. Gen. Stat. § 163-82.6A(d) (2008)). House Bill 589 eliminated same-day registration. A voter’s registration must now be postmarked at least twenty-five days before Election Day or, if delivered in person or via fax or scanned document, received by the county board of elections at a time established by the board. N.C. Gen. Stat. § 16382.6(c)(1)-(2). Plaintiffs’ expert presented unrebutted testimony that African American North Carolinians have used same-day registration at a higher rate than whites in the three federal elections during which it was offered. Specifically, in 2012, 13.4% of African American voters who voted early used same-day 15 registration, as compared to 7.2% of white voters; in the 2010 midterm, the figures were 10.2% and 5.4%, respectively; and in 2008, 13.1% and 8.9%. The district court therefore concluded that the elimination of same-day registration would “bear more heavily on African-Americans than whites.” McCrory, 997 F. Supp. 2d at 355.