Hello, im ray suarez. Another state is now embroiled in the fight over voter i. D. North carolina has taken its battle to court, pitting the ncaa and the aclu against the legislature. Among other things, a new law requires that starting in 2016, anyone who wants to vote in North Carolina, present a goffed issued i. D. At the polling place. The civil Rights Groups say that its the state least required to have the i. D. The blacks and latinos, the poor and elderly, the young and the old from voting, and its no coincidence that most of these groups tend to vote for democrats. Also, a group of College Students, who say that the new law unfairly blocks their right to vote in North Carolina if they come originally from somewhere else. Supporters of the new law say asking the person who presents themselves from voting at the poll to prove their identity is a minor burden, and if you cant clear that tiny hurdle, the state is justified in wondering if you are you, and if you can even vote. The tarheel state is replaying a conflict already played out in many states. A North Carolina judge will decide if parts of the states voter i. D. Law should be delayed or even implemented. Lawyers from the Justice Department and a variety of civic groups appeared in an asheville, North Carolina courthouse this week seeking an injunction of the voter i. D. Law from going into effect ahead of the midterm elections, and now judge thomas d. Schroeder will decide if it goes ahead. Passing some of the countrys strictest voter i. D. Laws. Voters in North Carolina must have a state issued voter i. D. And the new law shortens the early Voting Period and ends the same day voter registration. The opponents say the goal is disenfranchisement. And also engaged in the debate, young and first time voters who can no longer use their student i. D. S to access polls. A group of seven colleges is arguing that the North Carolina law violates the 26th amendment, lowering the voting age from 21 to 18. Supporters of the i. D. Law say that it ensures elections and prevents voter fraud. Were going to have the same hours open for voting as before, its just going to be two weeks, and not precincts picked by the political party. Its going to be Fair Elections and more honest elections and my job is to protect the ballot box. 34 states, required to show some form of i. D. Nationally, theres a question about access and fairness. Judges in pennsylvania, arkansas and wisconsin have struck down voter i. D. Laws in their states. Appeals are pending in wisconsin and arkansas. One year ago, the Supreme Court eliminated a key element of the 1965 Voting Rights act. The court removed the department of justice oversight on states, clearly in the south, when it came to voting laws. And now they are standing up against the will of many legislators, in court. They are caring many in North Carolina, i and my colleagues, at every level of the Justice Department, will never hesitate to do all that we must do to protected constitutionally guaranteed civil rights of all americans. The photo i. D. Portion of the North Carolina law does not go into effect until 2016, the president ial cycle, as states determine their own voting rules, and the laws are challenged in court. The main question is this. Are the laws about fairness and the integrity of the vote, and protecting the ballot box and fraud at the cost of voter suppression. The new North Carolina law was passed as i mentioned in the wake of the Supreme Court decision, striking down parts of the Voting Rights act. Before that high court decision, states like North Carolina, would have had to pass federal must perfect before any law had to do with voting. It was called preclearance, and now states like North Carolina dont have to do that. Joining us for that conversation in raleigh, North Carolina, state senator, jeff tarr, a state republican representing the 21st district. And shelton, and from boston, allen solomon, dean of citizenship. Let me go to south carolina. Senator tarr, what was nez, what was happening in North Carolina that moved the legislature to vote this way . Thank you for having me on the show this afternoon, and just the efficiency and the process of going to the polls as expeditiously as possible, and ensuring the integrity of everybody. Its that simple. Were there problems in getting people to vote before that that was addressed by this set of new measures . There are a couple of good examples and im sure that well get into the voter fraud issue, and im not hung up about it, but we had 11,000 ballots that were contested. And the race was decided by 8,000 votes. So had all of the 8,000 gone to another candidate, we would have a different Lieutenant Governor today. So we want to make sure that all of the votes count and theyre appropriate. Conversely, we had a gentleman go to vote and was told that he had already voted. And it turns out that his son, a same name, and junior, living in a different residence, he had voted and they marked had the wrong person voting, so when the father shoulder up, there was a lot of rigmarole that was not necessary. Thats an interesting case, because with human error, i wonder if the new North Carolina measures would necessarily prevent that kind of thing. I think that a lot of it will help when you have the addresses and so forth. So the people doing the polls and manning the polls, it expedites and makes their job a little easier. Adam solomon, sounds like common sense legislation, and where does the problem come in for you . Thank you, ray, for having me on. As im the dean of the tish college of Public Service see. And were the leading authority. And we do national engagement. Our discern is with the vibrancy of our democracy, and the belief in a in order for our democracy to flourish, we need young people to participate. North carolina, to its credit, between the years of 2000 and 2012, passed a number of laws that make it easier for young people to vote, and as a result, North Carolina rose from the ranks of number 31 in the country to 10th in the nation in the percentage of young people, between the ages of 18 and 24, who voted in 2000. 2012, there were almost 64 perfection of young people in that age group who were registered to vote. And 50 went to the polls and cast their ballots. All we can do is look at the date and examine whether or not this is likely to result in fewer young people voting. So lets take the photo i. D. Requirement as an example. It does sound pretty straightforward that you need to prove your identity. But College Identification is not accepted as a legitimate identification requirement. We know that only 65 of young people, aged 18 and over, posses a drivers license, and the North Carolina state board of education found that approximately 90,000 registered voters between the ages of 18 and 25 may not have had a state i. D. Or a drivers license. So even if a few young people f. The result of this law is that fewer young people vote, were very concerned about the impact democracy. Now, North Carolina is known around the country for its fine institutions of higher learning, whether its public ones like unc chapelhill or public ones like duke university, either way, it brings in people from other places in the country, and do we know for sure that they are not registered back home and voting absentee . We dont have the data to suggest that young people in any significant numbers are voting more than once. We do know that young people, like many of us, dont track the laws and require wants of voting registration that carefully, and we believe that things that we can do through Public Policy that make it easier for people in general to register, will increase the number of people that vote and that will have a positive impact. So we know, for example, that sameday registration in president ial Election Year tends to increase Voter Participation by between 12 and 14 points, and we also know that in states where there is same day registration, the voting participation ranks the highest. And we also know that young people occasionally cast ballots in the wrong precincts because they did not know exactly where they were required to report. In fact, over 25 of young voters who cast provisional ballots, were actually in the wrong precinct, and yet, they were legitimately qualified to vote. And their votes in the past have been correctly counted. But this new law will not accept out of precinct balloting, and we think that is possibly a problem. Hillary shelt be not, the naacp headed into court to oppose the law, joined with other organizations, and what is the problem. The problem is it locks out many eligible voters. As we determine 317,000 north carolinians are actually registered to vote, but dont have the requisite state issued photo identities. And we want to make sure that every american, regardless of state, race, ethnicity, if you live in the state of North Carolina, you should be able to cast a vote. The problem with this bill and the photo i. D. Provision is same day registration. It works, and people go to the polls, if theyre apt the wrong polling site, you step out of one line and get into another line, you register and you vote. And make sure that every vote can be counted. Thats what we want to make sure happens. There have been no problems disclosed in North Carolina to mandate these solutions, the kinds of solutions quite frankly, create more problems with americansing able to vote so as far as youre concerned, those people who came in and did the same day registration, all of them, some of them, an infinitesimal number, werent cheating. Thats right, and if you want to put emphasis on more laws in North Carolina, lets put it into the polls to make sure that every north carolinian eligible can cast that vote and be counted. Lets make sure that we extend early voting again. We know that 70 of africanamericans in North Carolina vote early. And lets give them the opportunity to do that. We have a program at it the naacp where we can do sunday voting, and we call it all souls to the polls, and we put an emphasis on citizenship as part of your citizenship in North Carolina. We see laws like this as creating new obstacles for Voter Participation. If theres a problem, lets solve it, but we see this as creating a problem to solve a problem that didnt exist in the first place. It pitted two views of voting and two values of america, a sort of low threshold and a higher threshold standard of getting people into polling places. Well talk about that when we come back, this is inside story, stay with us. People are not getting the care that they need a partisan standoff. I ride in opposition to obamacare millions uninsured. It hurts to see my family in this condition. Our politics costing lives . There are people like me literally dying because because they dont have the cash fault lines. Al jazeera americas hard hitting, theyre blocking the door. Groundbreaking, we have to get out of here. Truth seeking, award winning, investigative documentary series the coverage gap only on Al Jazeera America now inroducing, the new al jazeea america mobile news app. Get our exclusive in depth, reporting when you want it. A global perspective wherever you are. The major headlines in context. Mashable says. Youll never miss the latest news they will continue looking for suvivors. The potential for Energy Production is huge. No noise, no clutter, just real reporting. The new Al Jazeera America mobile app, available for your apple and android mobile device. Download it now at a time when voter i. D. Is required to board a plane or check into a hotel, why is it considered such an imposition to present app i. D. Mr. Solomon, i want to come back to you, because you heard them plead their brief that this is basically a new set of laws in search of infracks, that this was not a problem in North Carolina before this was put in place. How do you respond . Well, first of all, ray, voting is a criteria, and we should never disenfranchise or persuade anyone to not go to the polls and vote. Its illegal and unconstitutional and wrong on so many levels, so anything that we do from a legislative perspective should be encouraging that. As i like to talk about being eligible to vote, anybody who wants to cast a vote and is eligible to vote should be able to vote. Its that straightforward. It should be no different than going to the Grocery Store and buying a loaf of bread and a gallon of milk. It should be that easy. We talk about college campuses. I encourage every kid going to school to get out and vote on election day. Abs see balloting. The primary activity to do that is to establish what is your primary residency. Thats easy to do, and i know there were things in North Carolina to be able to use a state i. D. , but there are a number of issues. Go ahead. Is there really a competition between two values here, and North Carolina has to decide which one the higher one is . Is there an interest in throwing the door as wide open as possible, and understanding that a couple of people are going to cheat, as in any system . Or having the door a little more narrowly opened and making sure that everybody who comes through really belongs there . I think that you can accomplish both. I think that you can encourage and have a set of rules to allow anyone who wants to vote to do so, but at the same time, you want the integrity of the vote and streamline. Something that ive been discussing is the issuance of digital certificates, and electronic identification, to every resident of the state of North Carolina, who is 18 and older, and thats something that could be accomplished in six years, and the ultimate on who you say you are, with that kind of technology, we would be able to let people vote from their pcs and it would be able to prevent double casting of votes or inappropriate votes. Thats a good direction. Many of the states have been putting in these kinds of laws and have at the same time introduced new systems to getting people i. D. S. I followed these cases very closely during the litigation in pennsylvania, and they for a time worked hard to get van pools together. And elderly and shut in, two places where they could be verified, and was there anywhere in North Carolina to get this new law and get the hundreds of thousands of people who you say dont have this i. D. To get them . I would love to hear what you have to say, but our folks report something very very differently. Were not seeing those efforts being utilized heavily in communities of colors, and not seeing them saving time or resources. One of the things that we have not talked about yet, when you talk about photo i. D. That you have to pay for, and we talk about other options like a passport. Its something thats expensive for poorer americans but the average passport these days costs 100. And it is starting to sound like the day were going back to the days of poll taxes, where you had to spend money to simply go to the polls and cast a vote. And again, especially in a situation that we have not seen some wave of fraud going on throughout the state of North Carolina, and as a matter of fact, i havent seen yet one case of fraud in North Carolina, in which a photo i. D. Would have made one difference. Most places like North Carolina, theyre poll works, those who work for the elections commissions, participating in the fraud activities. Quick response, summer . He raises a good point, actually requiring someone to pay for an i. D. To vote is inappropriate. One thing that the state has done, a fund of 10 million where the state will pay for you to get an identification at the dmv. And we have tried to make it simple for the elderly and the handicapped, and you can through this law have someone take to you the poll, and if you are handicapped and cant get out of the vehicle, you can vote for your car, so there are things that were trying to do so that everybody gets to strot. Were going to come back and talk about politics, about the way forward. And where voter i. D. And where this battle really fits within the story of who is voting in america today, and for who. This is inside story, stay with us. R were here in the vortex. Only on Al Jazeera America. Youre watchinged in inside, on aljazeera america. Im ray suarez. The fight over voter i. D. And more restricted Ballot Access has moved to North Carolina, where the new voter i. D. Law is in court. The new election law makes it harder for young voters to register. Not impossible, just a little more complicated and allows fewer days of early voting. All to protect the process say supporters, and all to keep out poor and minority voters say opponents. They say its really about politics, because of who young and minority voters vote for, analysis . I would like to take it out of the realm of partisan politics. I think this is a challenge that we face as democrats and republicans and independents. We have to face reality. Our democracy is in trouble. You know that in an offyear, in nonpresident ial elections, the percentage of young people to go to the polls is under 25 . Fewer than one in four young people vote in congressional and offyear election. We know that the generation of young people that were educating today in colleges in North Carolina and elsewhere are a generation that very much wants to participate in their communities, theyre applying to america corp and applying to the peace corp in record numbers, but theyre very turned off toward the political process, and theyre losing confidence in our public institutions, but yet thats where the most important decisions about our nations future are made. I think its not just a matter of removing obstacles. We, for whether we like it or not, we have to find ways to encourage young people, all people to go to the polls and be part of the selection of our leaders. We do know from the evidence that we have conducted at tissue college, that there are ways to increase the numbers of people that vote in off elections. We know in one way, if theyre contacted by a campaign, and we know another thing that encourages young people to vote is good civic education, but the third thing is same day registration. A lot of the same people we know will be voters by the time theyre 30, and young people have never voted in large numbers since the amendment was passed that reduced the voting age to 1. But these College Students are almost certain to be voters when they enter the years in life where youre more likely to have a mortgage and kids and a steady job. So isnt this a problem thats going to be taken care of by time . Well, i dont think we can afford to let time solve these problems. I think actually, people who vote at early ages are much more likely to be lifelong voters than others. Its like anything else. You learn this when youre young, and frankly, given the size of the younger generation, the most numerous generation in history. And theyre the people most affected by the decisions we make in government. And i think its critical that they exercise and have an important voice in the decisions that are made. And we know there are Public Policies that increase the likelihood and the percentage of young people to vote. I cited the numbers before. North carolina is among the states that has done the most over the last decade to increase voting by young people. Its number ten in the nation. We dont yet know what the impact of h589 is going to have on the numbers of people that vote in North Carolina. But even if a smaller number who would have otherwise voted had stayed away from the polls, we believe its a problem that democrats and republicans and independence need to address. Hillary shelton, were close to the end of our time. Can North Carolina live out the intention of the legislature and meet you halve way as you opposed legislation thats put into place . Are there measures that the state can make where you can live with the result of this legislative action . I dont think that anything should ever be done to compromise our democracy. One of the things that we did talk about, the fastest dem drastic of voters in the country were actually africanamerican youth between 18 and 24. And now because of the opportunity where you can vote on the same day and use your student i. D. To go to the polls and cast your vote and have that vote counted, where theres every opportunity in the process. Making sure that your vote is cast. And summer tarr, do you expect it to solve the challenges very much. Thank you for joining us, im ray suarez. On america tonight, the fight for chicago, and another hot vicious summer. Holiday violence spirals into a new week. They started shooting and they screamed saying somebody call the police, i dont know who it was. Officers on the streets. Dozens of chicagoans are gunned down. Violence . Also sharing the hurt. 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