With just over a week to go before Election Day, the North Carolina NAACP on Monday filed a lawsuit to stop what it describes as a Republican-led effort to snuff out the African-American vote.
“This is our Selma and we will not back down and allow this suppression to continue,” said Rev. William Barber II, president of the organization.
According to the civil rights organization, wrongful challenges to voters’ eligibility are happening in at least three counties—Beaufort, Moore, and Cumberland—and are disproportionately affecting African Americans.
The suit (pdf) states that “a small number of individuals have recently challenged the registration of approximately 4,500 voters, based exclusively on mass mailings that were returned as undeliverable.” A press statement from the group says the challenges stem from “a coordinated campaign led by individuals with GOP ties.” Registration cancellations based on that alone is in violation of the National Voting Registration Act, the group says.
The complaint, filed Monday in federal court in the Middle District of North Carolina, states, “in many cases, voters purged by Defendants still reside at the addresses where they are registered to vote, or have moved within the county and remain eligible to vote there.”