On Monday, North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory signed a new voter ID bill into law. The new law, which was approved by the North Carolina General Assembly in July and will come into effect in 2016, will require voters to present government-issued photo identification at voting polls. North Carolina is the first state to change its voter ID law after the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Shelby County v. Holder, which held section 4 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 unconstitutional. Section 4 provided a formula for determining which jurisdictions are covered under section 5 of the Voting Rights Act; Section 5 requires those jurisdictions with histories of preventing minority groups from voting have pre-clearance from the Department of Justice before making changes to voting laws.
Various civil rights groups, including the NAACP and ACLU, have already filed lawsuits challenging the law.