Question for answer: The Governor of Virginia, North Carolina

Question and answers
Institution
Date
Q1.
The Governor of Virginia is Terry McAuliffe. McAuliffe assumed office in 2013 after pulling off an upset win on a Democratic ticket over the Republican nominee and the then sitting Attorney General, Ken Cuccinelli and Libertarian Robert Sarvis. During his tenure, McAuliffe has made several reform and developments including healthcare reforms and healthcare development. Most importantly, McAuliffe recently signed an executive order that restores voting rights to more than two hundred thousand ex-felons in Virginia.
Therefore, the voter legislation which was passed to afford the right to vote for ex-convicts is the ex-felons voting right bill. On the 22nd April 2016, Governor Terry McAuliffe utilized his executive powers and restored voting rights to formerly convicted felons, circumventing the Republican-run legislature. The action effectively upturns a Civil War-era provision in the United States' constitution which is aimed at disenfranchising African Americans. The ex-felon voting right bill allows formerly convicted offenders from prisons to vote in the federal election. This measure creates a uniform national standard that applies to ex-convicts who are no longer in custody. The legislature came at a good time amid intensifying national attention over harsh conviction policies which have disproportionately affected Americans.
The idea of denying criminals the right to vote has been around for long. A condition known as civil death in Europe refused ex-felons many rights including the right to vote. Public death was introduced into the United States by an English colonist (Ruth, Matusitz, & Simi, 2016). However, most of its aspects were abolished leaving only felon disenfranchisement. This has further been minimized with states like Virginia, under Governor Teddy McAuliffe have entirely removed this practice by passing the ex-felon voting right act allowing former convicts to vote in the general election.
Q2
North Carolina new law is seen as the most discriminative voting law adopted in recent times. According to observers, the law would discriminate the African American and Latino primarily. One of the most contested bit of the new law is the requirement that one produces a state issued a photo identity card before being allowed to vote. In 2013, a Republican-controlled state legislature passed some legislation that restricted voting process in North Carolina State. One of the restrictions was the elimination of same-day registration, reduced early voting period and ended preregistration for sixteen and seventeen-year-olds. The laws have been challenged in federal courts but in 2015, the federal judge upheld the law making it the most restrictive voting law in the United States. North Carolina voting restriction is in tandem with the previous voting patterns of communities of color within the state.
Between 2008 and 2012, North Carolina elections have been determined by the upswing of black votes. The total population of blacks in North Carolina is twenty-two percent, but thirty-three percent of the registered voters who lack photo identity cards are African Americans. In 2012, seventy percent of African American took advantage of early voting and forty-five percent of votes cast on the same day of registration were African Americans (Wiltz, 2013). North Carolina Republicans argue that the law is meant to curtail voter fraud. However, Protestants argue that the main aim is to discriminate and prevent minority group from exercising their right to participate in electoral process. The plaintiffs argu...