Judge refuses to halt ID requirement in March election

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) – A federal judge has refused to block a photo identification requirement to vote in North Carolina from taking effect starting with the March primary elections. He’s also declined another motion by a civil rights group to delay a trial this month on the mandate’s legality.

U.S. District Court Judge Thomas Schroeder on Friday denied a preliminary injunction request by the state NAACP and some allied voters.

He wrote NAACP lawyers have failed to show their clients surely will win at trial on allegations the photo ID requirement is unconstitutionally burdensome on minority groups and intentionally discriminatory. Schroeder says these allegations are weighed against what appears to be a broad effort by elections officials to tell voters about the ID requirement.

The trial is now set for Jan. 25 in Winston-Salem.

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