Federal Appeals Court Blocks GOP Challenge To NC Voter Registrations

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, Aug. 22, 2007, in Washington. Judge Pauline Newman, a 96-year-old U.S. federal appeals court judge, has been barred from hearing cases for a y

A recent development in North Carolina's voter registration process has seen a federal appeals court intervene in a dispute between the Republican National Committee (RNC), North Carolina Republican Party (NCGOP), and the State Board of Elections. The GOP's attempt to challenge 225,000 voter registrations in the state, alleging that these registrations were made without the required identification, has been met with legal hurdles.

The lawsuit filed by the RNC and NCGOP claimed that certain voters were registered using forms that did not mandate identification such as an ID or Social Security number, which they argued violated the Help America Vote Act. The case was initially sent to federal court by the State Board of Elections, but Chief District Judge Richard Myers later ruled to move parts of the case back to the state court.