Organizers plan rally at the Capitol before Supreme Court hears voter ID, redistricting arguments

Organizers from across North Carolina will meet in downtown Raleigh Tuesday ahead of the state Supreme Court re-hearing two voting rights cases that a previous iteration of the high court decided last year.

Dubbed the “People’s Rally at the Capitol,” a group of advocacy organizations calling themselves “A People’s Coalition” will demonstrate to “sound the alarm about our state in emergency.”

This week the state Supreme Court will re-hear Harper v. Hall and Holmes v. Moore, two cases involving the state’s voter ID law and redistricting. The high court issued rulings on the two cases, authored by the then-Democratic majority, last year. The majority invalidated Republicans’ voter ID law and ruled that the state Senate map used in last year’s elections was an unconstitutional partisan gerrymander.

Republicans regained control of the court after last year’s midterms. That new majority agreed to re-hear the cases, a move one of their Democratic colleagues called a “display of raw partisanship.”

The justices will hear oral arguments in the redistricting case at 12:45 on Tuesday. The arguments for the voter ID case will be Wednesday at 12:45. All Supreme Court arguments are live-streamed at this link.

Organizers for the rally said the “rare court action” to re-hear the cases, coupled with a number of bills pending in the legislature that would restrict voting access, could significantly impact how elections are run in North Carolina ahead of next year’s presidential election.

“Simply put, the future of fair, free, and accessible elections is on the line in the Tar Heel State,” the website reads.

Click here to register to attend the rally, which starts at 11 a.m. on Tuesday. It will also be live-streamed on Facebook.