© 2024 WFAE

Mailing Address:
WFAE 90.7
P.O. Box 896890
Charlotte, NC 28289-6890
Tax ID: 56-1803808
90.7 Charlotte 93.7 Southern Pines 90.3 Hickory 106.1 Laurinburg
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations
Due to scheduled maintenance, WFAE streaming channels may be interrupted on Saturday, Dec. 14.
Here are some of the other stories catching our attention.

NC Leaders Have To File Court Response To Voting Lawsuits Monday

North Carolina leaders have to lay out some of their arguments Monday for how they'll defend the state's sweeping new voting law from court challenges. Monday is the deadline for the state to file a response to lawsuits brought by the North Carolina NAACP and ACLU.

The NAACP and ACLU are trying to convince a federal court in Greensboro that the state's new voting law is discriminatory.

The groups argue in lawsuits that cutting early voting, getting rid of same-day registration, requiring photo ID and other parts of the law will make it much harder for minorities to vote.

Donita Judge is an attorney representing the NAACP.

"We fired the first shot," she said. "Now they're responding to our lawsuits as to why the governor and the elected officials believe that this type of restrictive bill was warranted."

Governor Pat McCrory and Republican lawmakers who passed the bill have defended it in public statements. For example, they've said that the early voting changes are not discriminatory, and that requiring photo ID is a common-sense change.

Donita Judge expects the court response to go into much more detail. It's due at midnight.

The U.S. Justice Department has also sued North Carolina over the voting law. The federal court in Greensboro may decide to lump that lawsuit together with the NAACP and ACLU suits.