Appeals court denies more early voting time in North Carolina

A group of North Carolina voters that wants to expand early in-person voting in the presidential battleground state lost its case before a federal appeals court Wednesday.

A three-judge panel on the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals denied the emergency motion focused on five counties that include cities such as Charlotte, Greensboro, Winston-Salem and Wilmington. A trial court judge refused the same request last week.

The voters' lawyers argued the counties weren't complying with the 4th Circuit's ruling in July striking down portions of a 2013 law that reduced the early-voting period by seven days. The period now covers 17 days, beginning Thursday. The voters, however, said county or state election officials should have allowed additional early voting on Sunday, during the first seven days of the period, or on the Saturday afternoon before Election Day.

Lawyers for the state and GOP Gov. Pat McCrory told the courts that county and state election boards abided by the ruling, which reverted ballot-access laws to where they were before the 2013 law approved by Republican legislators. They also wrote this week that making 11th-hour changes would create more voting confusion and administrative burdens on election officials.

Read more: http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/sns-bc-us--apnewsalert-20161019-story.html