Perkins Coie was involved in two major victories for voting rights activists in decisions issued by federal courts in Wisconsin and North Carolina, both of which are likely to result in the participation of thousands of more voters in the presidential election in those states in November.

On July 29, 2016, U.S. District Judge James Peterson of the Western District of Wisconsin struck down eight separate recently-enacted voting restrictions, including those involving strict voter identification requirements and substantial restrictions to early and absentee voting.

Perkins Coie filed the high-profile lawsuit in June 2015 on behalf of a diverse group of Wisconsin voters and organizations alleging that over a dozen election-law measures enacted in the state in recent years unduly burden the right to vote and were intended to discriminate and have the effect of discriminating on the basis of race. The case went to trial in May.

In the decision, the judge found a number of the challenged provisions unconstitutional, including the voter ID law as implemented, restrictions on the use of student ID as voter ID, certain restrictions that limited early and absentee voting, and a provision that increased the residency requirement before an otherwise eligible voter may participate in elections in Wisconsin. The court further affirmatively ordered the state to issue valid photo IDs for voters who are trying to obtain them but lack certain credentials (e.g. birth certificates).

The ruling in Wisconsin came on the same day that a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit issued a unanimous ruling that North Carolina’s Republican-led legislature intentionally discriminated against African Americans when it enacted new voting restrictions in 2013. The Fourth Circuit reversed the district court’s dismissal of all of the plaintiffs’ claims in North Carolina State Conference of the NAACP, et al. v. McCrory, et al., finding that North Carolina’s elimination of same day registration, out-of-precinct provisional voting, preregistration, reduction of early voting, and enactment of voter-ID law were unconstitutional and in violation of the 14th Amendment and Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act.

The court found it significant that the Republican-controlled General Assembly passed the challenged provisions right after the Supreme Court eliminated the need for North Carolina to seek preclearance from the U.S. Department of Justice for new voting provisions, and just as “African Americans were poised to act as a major electoral force” in the state.

The court noted that the “General Assembly enacted legislation that restricted voting and registration in five different ways, all of which disproportionately affected African Americans.” Noting that the state “impos[e]d cures for problems that did not exist,” the court said that “this bears the mark of intentional discrimination.”

The decision invalidates the changes to North Carolina’s voting mechanisms, meaning that same-day registration, out-of-precinct provisional voting, preregistration, and the lost early voting days will be reinstated. North Carolina’s voter ID law is also completely enjoined.