North Carolina voter suppression activists will lobby lawmakers in Raleigh tomorrow morning, and the state’s two most prominent anti-immigrant groups are lending their support to the effort.
Leaders of NC Listen and North Carolinians for Immigration Reform and Enforcement (NCFIRE) have both sent messages to their supporters encouraging them to attend the event, which is being co-organized by the Voter Integrity Project and Moore Tea Citizens.
Read: Thousands of voters are disenfranchised by North Carolina’s voting restrictions
Voter fraud is rare and voter impersonation almost never happens. And the claim that undocumented immigrants are heading to the polls en masse is absurd. But, that didn’t stop both groups from making the fear-based plea to their members to oppose HB 836, a measure signed into law in June that loosens the state’s voter ID requirements:
“Our state Voter ID rules have been weakened and this only gives those who wish to manipulate our voting process a better chance, along with making it easier for illegal immigrants to vote.”
Both NC Listen and NCFIRE maintain ties to national leadership of the organized anti-immigrant movement, particularly the movement’s flagship organization, the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR). NC Listen is currently listed as a state contact group on FAIR’s website and FAIR has described NCFIRE as “one of FAIR’s partners in North Carolina.” The groups’ leaders, Ron Woodard and James Johnson, also regularly attend FAIR’s annual media and lobbying event Hold Their Feet to the Fire. Woodard was presented with FAIR’s “‘We the People’ Leadership Award” during the 2013 event.
The broad attack on voting rights has long been a plank in the anti-immigrant movement’s platform.
The activists will meet at the North Carolina statehouse at 9:30 am tomorrow to express their opposition to HB 836.