UPDATE — McCrory responds to Justice Department lawsuit

UPDATE — In remarks on Monday afternoon, Gov. Pat McCrory called a lawsuit by the U.S. Justice Department challenging North Carolina’s voting law “an overreach and without merit.”

He said the lawsuit, which will cost taxpayers money, is influenced by national politics.

“I believe North Carolina is absolutely in the mainstream on the issue, and its the Justice Department that is working in the fringes,” he said.

“This is really about North Carolina politics, and politicians deciding that North Carolina cannot have the same common sense laws to protect the integrity of the ballot box.”

U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder had announced earlier on Monday that the Justice Department will sue North Carolina over its new voting law.

The lawsuit, which will be filed in Greensboro, alleges that the voting law was made with the purpose, intent and effect of restricting franchise on the basis of race.

The law, which was enacted this summer, shortened the early voting period by a week, eliminated same-day registration and set a new requirement for a government-issued photo ID.

“By restricting access and ease of voter participation, this new law would shrink, rather than expand, access to the franchise,” Holder said in prepared remarks. “Allowing limits on voting rights that disproportionately exclude minority voters would be inconsistent with our ideals as a nation. And it would not be in keeping with the proud tradition of democracy that North Carolinians have built in recent years.”

See Holder’s full remarks here.

Reaction to the lawsuit

Joint statement from N.C. Senate President Pro Tempore Phil Berger, R-Rockingham, and N.C. House Speaker Thom Tillis, R-Mecklenburg —

“The Obama Justice Department’s baseless claims about North Carolina’s election reform law are nothing more than an obvious attempt to quash the will of the voters and hinder a hugely popular voter ID requirement. The law was designed to improve consistency, clarity and uniformity at the polls and it brings North Carolina’s election system in line with a majority of other states. We are confident it protects the right of all voters, as required by the U.S. and North Carolina Constitutions.”

Statement from U.S. Rep. David Price, D-N.C. —

“I applaud the Attorney General for heeding our calls and taking a stand against this discriminatory measure. If left unchallenged, the so-called Voter ID bill threatens to disenfranchise seniors, students, minorities, and low income voters, all of whom are less likely to have a valid photo ID and more likely to take advantage of early voting and same-day registration. In the absence of any evidence of widespread voter fraud in North Carolina, it is impossible to conclude that this law is anything other than a deliberate attempt to selectively disenfranchise our state’s voters.

“The right to vote is the bedrock of American democracy, and our nation’s history has been defined by the hard-fought expansion of suffrage to all eligible citizens – regardless of race, gender, physical ability, or socioeconomic status. Attempts to turn back this history of progress for partisan gain must not stand.”

Statement from U.S. Sen. Kay Hagan, D-N.C. —

“Now is not the time to be putting up barriers to the right to vote, and I applaud the Justice Department’s decision to challenge the new voter access restrictions in North Carolina that would, among other things, cut off a week of early voting and end same day registration.”

“We shouldn’t be giving everyday North Carolinians fewer opportunities to make their voices heard while we are giving corporations more opportunities to influence elections. Restricting access to this basic right is simply not in sync with our North Carolina values, and it goes against our state’s proud tradition of eliminating barriers to participation in the democratic process.”

Statement from Chris Brook, legal director for the ACLU of North Carolina Legal Foundation —

“We welcome the Justice Department’s challenge to what many observers have rightfully described as the harshest voter suppression law in the country. North Carolina has made tremendous progress in recent years in improving ballot access and increasing voter turnout, but much, if not all, of that progress will be lost if this new law goes into effect. By cutting early voting and eliminating same-day registration, North Carolina’s law will severely restrict ballot access for countless eligible voters, particularly the millions of North Carolinians who vote early and the more than 70 percent of African-American voters who utilized early voting during the 2008 and 2012 general elections. For many voters, especially low-income voters, the choice is between early voting or not voting at all.”

Statement from the Rev. William Barber, II, president of the N.C. NAACP —

“The southern strategy of the well-funded, nationally-coordinated ultra-right believes and has convinced many who purport a narrow and extreme political agenda that the only way they can hold onto their political power in Washington, and the south, is to drastically suppress voting rights for minorities.”

“We need every resource, including the U.S. Government, to help us expose the national conspiracy behind this movement to suppress targeted constituencies in the new southern electorate. When the good people of North Carolina learn about the origins and true aims of this hodge-podge of voter suppression tactics, we are confident they and the Courts will join us in saying, ‘Forward Together, Not One Step Back.’ I have sensed a strong new multi-racial progressive Movement growing in the State. The good people of North Carolina are disgusted when they learn that the far-right created the myth of voter fraud, then repeated over and over again, intentionally creating the main pretext for this naked power grab by the extremists.”

Statement from North Carolina Democratic Party Chairman Randy Voller —

“The purpose of government is to create a more fair and just society. We welcome the decision by the Justice Department to combat efforts to make it harder for North Carolinians to have their voices heard.”

“This fight is about fairness and equal access to our country’s most fundamental freedom. Senator Hagan, Congressman Butterfield and other Democratic leaders have been on the forefront protecting the right to vote. It’s time for Republicans to stop playing partisan tricks and stop putting up unnecessary roadblocks to vote in North Carolina.”