You're listening to the dark side of American Democracy on BBC World Service.

I'm Giles Edwards and I've come to North Carolina in the Southern United States

to investigate the political battle over how people vote

and to ask whether it could affect this year's election results.

But it's not the first time I've been to this neighborhood.

So when you came back in 14, they said that everybody had to produce voter ID,

a ID, state issued ID to vote.

And so that law was struck down as unconstitutional.

And even since then, here,

our congressional law has been found to be unconstitutional. Our state representative lines and state

senatorial lines been found to be unconstitutional. They were gerrymandered.

So we've been going through a lot. I first came here four years ago when Republicans in

political control of this state had just passed a sweeping new elections law which

they said would stop voter fraud.

Democrats rejected that argument and said it was only really aimed at making it harder for

poor black and student voters to cast their ballots.

I've come back because I want to find out what happened and because

since then and across this country

the story of who gets to vote and how has got a whole lot bigger.

Now just as we were just so fearful about this voter ID back in 2014

that was struck down as unconstitutional.

Now they're trying to put it in the Constitution as a constitutional amendment to make it a permanent

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