NAACP Legal Defense Fund : Defend, Educate, Empower

The State of South Carolina filed South Carolina v. United States in federal court in Washington, D.C. under Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act, seeking approval of its proposed restrictive voter ID law.  The Department of Justice has already rejected implementation of the law after finding that it would be harmful to minority voters.

Because the proposed voter ID law would impose significant burdens on African-American voters, including student voters, in South Carolina, LDF represents the South Carolina State Conference of the NAACP, and a group of African-American student voters attending a historically Black college in South Carolina, as Defendant-Intervenors in this case. 

South Carolina’s restrictive voter ID law would have a disproportionate effect on voters of color throughout the state.  Nationally, only 8% of white voting age citizens, while 25% of African-American voting age citizens, lack a government-issued photo ID.  In its rejection of the law, the Department of Justice found that minority registered voters in South Carolina are almost 20% more likely than their white counterparts not to possess DMV-issued photo ID that would satisfy the proposed law.

LDF’s clients will urge the court to reject South Carolina’s discriminatory photo ID law.