NAACP sues North Carolina over alleged voter suppression

On Monday, North Carolina's chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) filed a federal lawsuit against the state of North Carolina accusing the elections boards of the state and three counties of voter suppression. In the weeks leading up to the election, thousands of voters have been purged from the voter rolls, in many cases due to reports from individuals that campaign mailers sent to certain voters' addresses were returned as undeliverable.

The National Voter Registration Act stipulates registrations cannot be canceled less than 90 days ahead of a federal election. Before registration is revoked, a voter must provide a written notice of an address change or fail to respond to a notice for two election cycles or to cast a vote in two general elections.

The NAACP argued these "purges" are a "coordinated campaign" by people affiliated with the Republican Party to suppress the black vote. Talking Points Memo reported that in one of the counties involved in the lawsuit, "black voters make up 65 percent of the challenges even though the county is 26 percent African-American."

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By filing the lawsuit, the NAACP hopes to not only prevent more voters from being purged from the voter rolls, but also to reinstate eligible voters. "The Tar Heel state is ground zero in the intentional, surgical efforts by Republicans to suppress the voice of voters," NAACP-NC President Rev. William Barber II said in a statement. "The NAACP is defending rights of all North Carolinians to participate in this election. We're taking this emergency step to make sure not a single voter's voice is unlawfully taken away. This is our Selma and we will not back down and allow this suppression to continue."