North Carolina signs Photo I.D. law

North Carolina has signed in to law a contentious bill requiring voters to show photo IDs at polls.

North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory signed the bill into law despite the controversy of the bill’s potential discrimination against marginal communities.

The bill was enacted as a means to eliminate voting fraud, a crime which has been reported as being relatively uncommon throughout the country.

Gerrymandering and poll restrictions are not new to the state of North Carolina, according to the BBC, the Voting Rights Act originally aimed to fight entrenched racism in the voting system.

Republican governor McCrory still affirms that if photo IDs are required for other common practices such as plane boarding, people should also be expected to require similar IDs for voting.

The law also will ban election-day registration.

Many have jumped to the forefront against this issue, including the American Civil Liberties Union and former secretary of State Hilary Clinton, each denouncing the justice of the bill as discriminatory.

Flickr Photo by: Mr. T in DC

STORY WRITTEN BY: HANNAH BESSEAU