Lewis: March organizers 'hypocritical' on voter ID

Republicans say those protesting against a new voter ID law defy their own argument by suggesting protesters bring IDs to rallies.

Posted 12:50 a.m. Feb 11, 2014 — Updated 2:01 a.m. Feb 11, 2014

RALEIGH, N.C. — A senior state House member took marchers who protested at the State Capitol to task over the weekend for their "hypocritical" stance on voter ID.

Many of those marching in this weekend's HK on J protest, an effort related to the "Moral Monday" protests at the Legislative Building, object to a new requirement that voters show photo identification at the polls starting in 2016.

Rep. David Lewis, R-Harnett, pointed to a flier of "dos and don'ts" distributed to marchers, which included the instruction that marchers should "bring photo identification (driver's license, passport or other valid ID) with you and keep it on your person at all times."

Lewis pointed to polls showing that voter ID is popular among voters despite the opposition of liberal groups.

"The NC NAACP has filed suit in court to block this common sense idea," Lewis wrote. "However, the NC NAACP requires their protesters to maintain valid photo identification on their person throughout the march. The idea that Chairman William Barber and his followers find it more important to carry their photo identification with them when marching than when electing the President of the United States is reprehensible."

Barber is the president of the state conference of the NAACP.

In a statement Monday, he said, "extremists in the legislature are instead trying to divert attention by misrepresenting a standard event flier."

Barber said that ID is not a requirement to participate in the marches.

"To prepare participants, we have always recommended various security measures, including looking out for the elderly, remaining calm in the face of any altercation, and bringing a photo ID for safety reasons," he wrote. "What is in fact hypocritical is for extremists in the General Assembly to lie about widespread voter fraud, which does not exist in the state of North Carolina, in order to pass a monster law that suppresses the right to vote at every level of the democratic process."

Suggest A Correction