Federal Judge to Block NC Voter ID Law Temporarily as the Lawsuit Continues

Rev. T. Anthony Spearman, president of the NC NAACP, crumples up a mailer that tells voters IDs are needed in the upcoming 2020 election during a press conference outside the Legislative Building in Raleigh, N.C., Friday, Dec. 27, 2019. The press conference was held after a federal judge in North Carolina said Thursday she would block the NC voter ID law, at least temporarily, as a lawsuit against the state continues. Ethan Hyman 

North Carolina voters might not have to show a photo ID in the 2020 elections, due to a ruling in federal court that’s expected in the coming days.

A federal judge in North Carolina said Thursday she would block the law, at least temporarily, as the voter ID lawsuit against the state continues. She said she will make her official ruling next week, but wanted to give advance notice of her decision. The judge, Loretta Biggs, wrote that state elections officials had been planning “a very large statewide mailing” next week to tell voters about the ID law, and she wanted to let them know they wouldn’t need to do that after all.

Details of what exactly the judge is planning to order are still not entirely clear. A spokeswoman for Attorney General Josh Stein, who must now decide how the state will react to the judge’s decision, said his office will wait to see the actual ruling next week before making any decisions on how to proceed.

Read more here: https://www.newsobserver.com/news/politics-government/article238747723.html#storylink=cpy