[JURIST] The North Carolina National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) [official website] filed a federal lawsuit [complaint, PDF] on Monday challenging North Carolina’s sudden cancellation of voter registrations across three counties. The voter removals, executed by the North Carolina State Board of Elections [official website], were the result [CNN report] of third party challenges to an estimated 4,500 voters who had mailings returned as undeliverable. Such challenges were performed under a state statute that allows citizens to challenge the voter eligibility of others up to 25 days prior to election day. The NAACP argued, however, that these challenges made on the basis of residency concerns were largely brought against state citizens who have either not changed their residency or still remain in their respective counties. Furthermore, the NAACP accused the board of violating the National Voter Registration Act [materials] by performing an “en masse” systematic voter removal program within 90 days of election day. According to the NAACP, such systematic cancellations also disproportionately affect minorities and thereby suppress the votes of thousands of African Americans. The board has continued to defend these cancellations, stating that they were not the result of systematic action but rather third parties using an established statutory process. Nonetheless the NAACP hopes to reverse the voter cancellation before election day arrives.

Voter rights continue to plague this election cycle. Last week the US Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit [official website] granted a stay [JURIST report] on the preliminary injunction that had halted Michigan’s ban on taking ballot selfies. Also last week a New York law prohibiting a person from showing the contents of her prepared voting ballot was challenged as unconstitutional [JURIST report] by state voters for violating their First Amendment rights. The complaint alleges that the law infringes on voters’ freedom of speech and freedom of expression under the US Constitution as well as the New York state Constitution. In the past month similar laws banning the ballot selfie have been rejected in Michigan and New Hampshire [JURIST report]. Last week a federal court denied an emergency motion [JURIST report] from North Carolina counties to extend the hours of early voting. Earlier last month a district court judge ruled [JURIST report] that Ohio must allow most unlawfully purged voters to vote in November. In September a district court judge granted [JURIST report] a motion blocking Illinois from allowing voter registration on election day in the state’s most populated counties.