Repeal of racist voting test in NC Constitution passes first hurdle

An amendment to repeal the Jim Crow-era literacy test in the North Carolina Constitution could be up for a House vote next week after winning unanimous approval in a key committee Wednesday.

House Bill 44 would ask voters to approve the removal of an 1899 provision meant to keep newly-freed Black citizens from exercising their right to vote. It would be on the ballot in fall 2024.

The provision itself sounds benign: "Every person presenting himself for [voter] registration shall be able to read and write any section of the constitution in the English language." But sponsor Rep. Kelly Alexander, D-Mecklenburg, said it was used by white election officials to deny registration to voters of color, including the man who would become the state's first Black Chief Justice, Henry Frye.

Anyone seeking to register to vote, as Frye did, Alexander recounted, "was required to read a section of the Constitution to the satisfaction of that registrar. That is about as subjective a test as you could have."

The provision was mooted by federal voting rights laws passed in the mid-1960s, and after a challenge by Gaston County, the U.S. Supreme Court in 1969 explicitly banned the North Carolina test.

State lawmakers in 1970 put an amendment on the ballot to repeal the provision, but voters rejected the amendment, embarrassing the state in the midst of the Civil Rights movement. Since then, lawmakers have not put a repeal on the ballot, fearing a potential outcome.

"Passing this repeal is not a slam dunk," said Andy Jackson from the Locke Foundation, who spoke in support of the bill. "There's not a guarantee that it'll pass this time either.

"I've seen the polling numbers. What I saw was 55% support [for the repeal]. The rest either did not support repeal or are unsure. That is an uncomfortably close margin."

Jackson voiced support for a change made in committee to add more historical context to the amendment language. He said it's important to word it carefully so voters understand how the literacy test got into the Constitution in the first place, and why it needs to be removed.

"People can look at the literacy test, and it looks – if you just read it, it looks innocuous. It's like 'people have to read.' A lot of folks think that might be a reasonable standard," Jackson told reporters. "But certainly the way it was applied was clearly racist, and it was clearly used to take votes away from black folks.

"So, we want to make that as clear as possible and we want to make it as non-political as possible."

If the House and Senate approve the amendment, it would be on the ballot in fall 2024. Jackson thinks voters would probably approve it this time, and Alexander agrees.

"We have to recognize that we're in a different place in history, that the dynamics of the state are different," Alexander said. "This is not a partisan issue. And, the more that we can send that message out to folks, that this is a logical evolution of where our state is, I think, the easier it becomes to educate our voters and to get our voters behind this."

The House passed repeal bills in 2013 and 2019, but the Senate did not take on a vote on them.

Senate Leader Phil Berger, R-Rockingham, couldn't promise this year would be different, but he said he's "hopeful" it will reach the ballot this time.

"Opinions have changed over the past 50 years," Berger said. "I think a majority of the people in the state of North Carolina will recognize why it's there and why it needs to be removed."