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Governor McCrory Asks US Supreme Court To Reinstate NC Voting Overhaul

WFAE | By Michael Tomsic,

Michael Tomsic

Published August 16, 2016 at 5:29 AM EDT

North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to reinstate North Carolina's voting overhaul. He’s requesting an appeals court decision be put on hold through November.

The4thU.S. Circuit Court of Appeals struck down the election changes last month, ruling that GOP lawmakers passed them with discriminatory intent.

Republican Governor Pat McCrory is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to put that decision on hold during appeal. He argues other states are using similar voter ID laws. A federal court approved South Carolina's, for example.

But that South Carolina law was just about photo ID. North Carolina also passed sweeping changes to early voting, same-day registration, out-of-precinct voting and preregistration of high schoolers.

The appeals court ruled unanimously those changes targeted African-Americans with “almost surgical precision.” That’s because African-Americans disproportionately relied on those voting or registration options and lacked IDs.

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Michael Tomsic

Michael Tomsic became a full-time reporter for WFAE in August 2012. Before that, he reported for the station as a freelancer and intern while he finished his senior year at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Heââ

See stories by Michael Tomsic

Michael Tomsic

Michael Tomsic covers health care, voting rights, NASCAR, peach-shaped water towers and everything in between. He drivesWFAE'shealth care coverage through a partnership with NPR and Kaiser Health News. He became a full-time reporter forWFAEin August 2012. Before that, he reported for the station as a freelancer and intern while he finished his senior year at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He interned with Weekends on All Things Considered in Washington, D.C., where he contributed to the show’s cover stories, produced interviews withNasand BranfordMarsalis, and reported a story about a surge of college graduates joining the military. AtUNC, he was the managing editor of the student radio newscast, Carolina Connection. He got his start in public radio as an intern withWHQRin Wilmington, N.C., where he grew up.