@NCCapitol

Voters could have chance to repeal NC's Jim Crow-era voting test in 2024

North Carolina lawmakers are trying again this year to remove a Jim Crow-era voting test from the state's constitution. This year, the amendment's chances of making it onto voters' ballots may be better than in the past.

Posted Updated

By
Laura Leslie
, WRAL capitol bureau chief
RALEIGH, N.C. — North Carolina lawmakers are trying again this year to remove a Jim Crow-era voting test from the state's constitution. This year, the amendment's chances of making it onto voters' ballots may be better.

In 1899, after the civil war, North Carolina and many other southern states added a literacy test to their constitutions as a way to prevent Black voters from being able to exercise their right to vote. The provision, Article VI, Section 4 of the state constitution, requires that "Every person presenting himself for [voter] registration shall be able to read and write any section of the constitution in the English language."

"It had that impact of disenfranchising black voters when black voters just got the right to vote," said Rep. Terry Brown, D-Mecklenburg, one of the current bill's primary sponsors.

In 1965, the federal Voting Right Act made literacy tests illegal. After Gaston County challenged that law in court, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 1969 that North Carolina's test was unconstitutional and banned its use.

State lawmakers subsequently passed an amendment to strike the provision from the state constitution. That amendment was put on the ballot in 1970, but voters rejected it, choosing to leave the unenforceable test in place, which made national headlines at the time.

"In 1970, the state was a much different place," Brown told WRAL News. "I think there were a lot of different issues that were going on in North Carolina in 1970, and those issues aren't present now. I'm confident that if we put that on the ballot in 2024, it will pass. I think North Carolina is ready to get this off the books."

Brown says repeal bills have been filed nearly every session since 1970, but none have ever made it to the ballot. Similar bills passed the House in 2013 and 2019, but the Senate did not act on them. Some legislative leaders have voiced concerns that voters could reject it a second time, embarrassing the state again.

That's why Brown says lawmakers will craft the wording of the amendment carefully and engage in a public information campaign to help voters understand it.

"When you're reading that, the average person might say, 'Well, I do think you might need to be able to read to vote,' but we want to make sure that we're very clear about what this amendment is, what it does and what it doesn't do," Brown said.

"The last thing anybody wants is for this to be on the ballot in a year and then it make headlines across the country that North Carolina voted to keep a literacy test in their constitution," he added. "So that's why it's so important that we take this seriously, and that we make sure that we do it the right way."

The bill has two Democratic and two Republican sponsors, and both of the latter are members of House leadership, signaling the bill will pass with bipartisan support. And Senate Leader Phil Berger, R-Rockngham, has said he's in favor of its passage this session. So Brown is hoping this might be the year it finally happens. House Bill 44 would put the repeal before voters in Nov. 2024.

"It's an important thing to make sure that [the literacy test] is off the books," Brown said, "because it's such an impactful message to people across the state, saying that, while these were things North Carolina believed in and did in the past, we're moving past those things. We're trying to make right by it."

 Credits 

Copyright 2024 by Capitol Broadcasting Company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.