It doesn’t change a thing, and even so…
After a panel late Friday, David Daley (“Ratf**ked: Why Your Vote Doesn’t Count“) informed me that North Carolina’s Supreme Court had ruled against the GOP-dominated legislature. Any win is a win these days. Take it.
The court, says the Associated Press, took steps to void the state’s photo ID cosntitutional amendment approved by ballot measure in 2018. The legislature that placed it on the ballot was from disricts unconstitutionally drawn on the basis of race:
However, the North Carolina Supreme Court stopped short of striking down the voter ID requirement and another constitutional amendment that limited income tax rates, ruling that a lower court must gather more evidence on the measures before tossing them out.
Voter identification is not currently required in North Carolina, because it’s held up in separate litigation regarding state voter laws. Friday’s ruling doesn’t alter that situation.
The long-awaited ruling, decided 4-3 by the court’s Democratic majority, is a victory for the state NAACP, which sued Republican legislative leaders. It undoes a state appeals court ruling that upheld the amendments, and it sends the case back to Wake County Superior Court Judge Bryan Collins, who previously struck down the amendments.
I hear Tevye and Golde singing,
It doesn’t change a thing
But even so
After twenty-five years
It’s nice to know
Except it’s only been about four years.
The title of Daley’s panel was “Election Subversion: The Role of State Legislatures in the Fight for Democracy.” If there is an angle by which GOP legislatures can rig democracy in their favor, they will. Several ways at once; by any means necessary. The guy behind REDMAP was from here.
It’s still true. The panel noted how much money (an insane amount) Democratic donors throw at federal races they cannot win while local and state races go hungry for cash. Those races down to the school board are democracy’s first line of defense. They go under-defended while “savvy” liberals focus on more marquee contests. Meanwhile, the GOP draws a bye in down-ballot races and builds its bench.
It may be the bias of my own interests, but I encountered multiple organizers and pundits here evangelizing both for local and state races, and for taking the fight into red areas Democrats have ceded to the GOP for too long.
I spent 2016 telling progressives President Hillary can’t solve my legislature problem; President Bernie can’t either. That has to be solved locally. It’s still true.
From Netroots Nation-Pittsburgh
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