Confederate Control of Polling Places?

Writing in the Atlantic magazine, Ari Berman says that, on a recent visit to Chapel Hill NC, he discovered that Southern states are planning to suppress voting by requiring a valid photo ID card! In an article entitled "Voter Suppression: The Confederacy Rises Again," Berman writes:

Eight of eleven states in the former Confederacy have passed restrictive voting laws since the 2010 election, as part of a broader war on voting undertaken by the GOP. ... [It's] breathtaking to consider the different ways Republicans have sought to suppress the minority vote in the region.

Not sure exactly what the Confederacy has to do with this. Of the myriad complaints liberals make about the Confederacy, I can't remember them ever claiming that Jefferson Davis demanded photo ID cards to vote.

And what is the big issue about photo ID cards anyway? The North Carolina DMV doles them out to everyone, even non-citizens.

And there's this:

North Carolina Democratic Governor Bev Perdue twice vetoed efforts by North Carolina Republicans to pass a strict voter ID law before the 2012 election. If GOP gubernatorial candidate Pat McCrory wins in November, it’s all but certain a tough voter ID law will be among the first pieces of legislation he signs.

That sounds like the strongest endorsement yet for McCrory in 2012.