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Supreme Court Blocks North Carolina Same-Day Voter Registration, Out-Of-Precinct Voting

Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Sonia Sotomayor dissent.

By Chris Geidner

The Supreme Court on Wednesday allowed changes to North Carolina voting law to go into effect, blocking an appeals court order that would have allowed same-day voter registration and out-of-precinct voting to continue in the state.

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg would not have granted the state’s request for a stay of the lower court’s ruling. Justice Sonia Sotomayor joined her dissenting opinion.

“The Court of Appeals determined that at least two of the measures—elimination of same-day registration and termination of out-of-precinct voting—risked significantly reducing opportunities for black voters to exercise the franchise in violation of Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. I would not displace that record-based reasoned judgment,” Ginsburg wrote.

Besides Ginsburg and, by signing on to her dissent, Sotomayor, no other justices explained their view on the case. A majority of justices, however, agreed to the stay request.

The ruling follows a similar ruling from the court this past week allowing new Ohio restrictions on early voting to go into effect.