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Expect a crowd Tuesday at the N.C. General Assembly. The N.C. chapter of the NAACP is holding a lobbying day, promising to mobilize huge numbers to counter what they believe is an extreme Republican agenda.

The Historic Thousands on Jones Street (HKonJ) coalition will start with an event at First Baptist church in downtown Raleigh at 9 a.m. "We are petitioning our government for redress of grievances," Rev. William J. Barber said in a statement. "With people who are being directly penalized and punished by the extreme ideological agenda being promoted on Jones Street, we will peaceably, and with grace, demand they stop their attacks on the most vulnerable North Carolinians.

The event coincides with N.C. Women United's legislative advocacy day. The group expects 85 to 100 supporters from across the state to flood the legislative buildings and push for "proactive measures that prioritize the needs of women and their families in North Carolina." Kim Gandy, the leader of the National Network to End Domestic Violence, will serve as a keynote speaker at a 9:15 a.m. rally.

The Rev William Barber, president of the state NAACP, accused House Speaker Thom Tillis of stooping “to a new moral low ground” by introducing a voter ID bill on the 45th anniversary of the assassination of civil rights leader Martin Luther King.

Barber rejected Tillis' suggestion that the bill was a compromise because it offers free voter IDS and birth certificates to those in financial need.

He said the costs of finding such documents as birth certificates will only be covered if the person was born in North Carolina.

.”Citizens born elsewhere will still have to shell out time and money to obtain their birth certificates,'' Barber said. “Birth certificates can cost up to $45 to obtain in some states. Moreover, nearly 20 states require people to provide a photo ID before the state will give a copy of a birth certificate. In some states, the wait time to get the birth certificate can be months, especially if you have to write away for it.''

“Any tax on any citizen who wants to vote - rich, poor, young, old, black, white or brown - is unconstitutional,'' Barber said. “In 1964, the United States passed the 24th Constitutional Amendment that outlawed $2 poll tax, and "any other taxes" to vote.  Whether or not someone can afford the poll tax is irrelevant. The bill is clearly unconstitutional.''

A coalition of groups, led by the NAACP, Friday denounced legislation that would make it harder to vote in North Carolina, promising to wage a vigorous campaign against the proposed new restrictions.

“These bills are about politicians manipulating elections for their own partisan gains,” said the Rev. William Barber, the state NAACP president. “These bills will block hundreds of North Carolinians from voting.''

He said a similar law in Florida last year, lead to eight-hour lines for voters and according to one study 200,000 people giving up and not voting.

Allison Riggs, an attorney for the Southern Coalition for Social Justice said a similar law was struck down in Ohio.

Critics of proposed new voter photo ID law vowed Thursday to launch a vigorous effort to fight the proposal, saying it amounted to a 21st century version of the poll tax used to keep blacks from voting.

The state NAACP lead a coalition of groups said they planned to contest a voter ID bill in the legislature even though it is clear that the Republican majority has the votes to pass it and that GOP Gov. Pat McCrory has said he will sign it.

“We will fight them in the courts, we fight them in the streets, and voters will fight them by turning out and voting,” said Penda Hair, co-director of the Advancement Project, a major national civil rights group that is legally challenging voter ID laws across the country. She described North Carolina as “ground zero” in the national fight.

Following a meeting with Gov.-elect Pat McCrory last week, the Rev. William Barber, state NAACP president, said the organization is going to release a petition Friday that calls on McCrory to govern as a moderate.

Barber told the N&O's Thomas Goldsmith that he urged McCrory in last week's meeting to focus on unemployment and poverty. The meeting lasted about 20 to 30 minutes, Barber said, and there was talk of meeting again after McCrory becomes governor.

In a statement, McCrory spokesman Ricky Diaz said the governor-elect thought it was a good meeting and the office is reviewing the schedule for future meetings with NAACP leadership.

Democrats, the state NAACP, and other nonprofits who are suing over redistricting plans want Supreme Court Judge Paul Newby to recuse himself from participating in the case.

They filed a motion Wednesday saying that individuals and political groups with a direct stake in the outcome of the redistricting case spent heavily to support his re-election, and their support "had a significant and disproportionate influence in Justice Newby's victory."

The NAACP will hold a news conference Saturday in Durham asking for a meeting with Republican Gov-elect Pat McCrory to discuss ways to work together to “advance the cause of racial equality and economic justice.''

The group also plans to express its concern that “ultra conservative'' Art Pope, the Raleigh retail executive, and financier of conservative causes, was placed on McCrory's transition team. And it plans to question whether Justice Paul Newby, who was re-elected to the N.C. Supreme Court, with the help of a $3 million outside campaign, should recuse himself from voting on redistricting cases.

“We are asking Governor-elect McCrory to resist the extremist elements of the Republican Party that continue to race-bait, attack voting rights, the poor and social safety net programs, and express unfounded criticism of the elected president of our nation based on his race,” the Rev. William J. Barber, the state NAACP president.

“The election is over now,” Barber said. “We must move towards governing, and we call on Governor-elect McCrory to focus on the kind of agenda that will move our state forward together and not one step back.''

He said the group would push for economic sustainability, addressing poverty, full employment, healthcare for all protecting voting rights and other issues.

The Rev. William Barber was in full sermon mode today as the president of the state NAACP gave his "State of Civil Rights in North Carolina" address.

At the North Carolina NAACP State Conference in North Raleigh, Barber gave a fiery speech about fighting voter identification laws and launching a voter education campaign for the election that's less than a month away.

Barber made frequent references to God, quoting from the Bible to make the case for backing candidates who support social justice issues. At the same time, he made disparaging remarks about conservative evangelical Christians.

Parents for Educational Freedom NC, pushing a bill that would give corporations 100 percent tax breaks for contributions to private school scholarships, says more than 4,000 people have called lawmakers in less than a week supporting the measure.

The group had a big march and rally for the bill a few weeks ago. Scholarships would be available to students from families with incomes not more than 225 percent of the federal poverty level, or about $50,000 for a family of four.

The bill has not had a committee hearing, but Minority Leader Paul Stam, an Apex Republican, continued to work on revisions last week.

The bill is highly controversial. NAACP President William Barber criticized the proposal yesterday as a plan to privatize schools.

In a letter to legislative leaders, Barber wrote: "The Stam Plan will cause North Carolina to lose much-needed revenue from wealthy corporations. They can divert the tax money they owe to the state to private nonprofits to finance private schools."

Parents for Educational Freedom President Darrell Allison countered with his own statement: "The perception that this measure is part of a right wing, anti-public school agenda is not the case. Low income parents don’t care what the educational model is, whether public or private. They just want a school that works."

The state NAACP wants more African-American judges appointed to U.S. District Courts in the state.

In an open letter to U.S. Sens. Kay Hagan and Richard Burr, the state's largest civil rights group said the senators should recommend an African American to serve as U.S. District Court judge in the Eastern District.

"With only one African American federal District Court Judge presently seated, North Carolina has the least diverse bench of all states in the South," wrote the Rev. William Barber, state NAACP president.

The state has never had an African-American federal judge in the Eastern District, where about half of the state's African American population resides, he wrote. "This exclusion is unacceptable and an embarrassment to this State and its African American community."