[EL] Gonzales case and voter registration drives

[Doug Hess]

I, too, don't understand how there could be federal mail-in forms that you
can print from the internet, grab at a post office, or take off a bar
stool, yet your neighbor or local community group cannot walk around with
the forms helping people complete them. If I recall correctly, some
officials tried to limit access to state mail-in forms when the NVRA first
came out, but I don't know if that's been through the courts or what level
of limitation might be considered reasonable (especially now with PDF
access). In any event, that was with state forms.

Regarding the Gonzales case, if I register in AZ using the federal form
(following the ruling), is the state going to say that I am ONLY registered
for federal elections? However, if I provide the same information using a
state mail-in form (i.e., I don't give citizenship proof), is my
registration REJECTED for all elections or all but federal elections?

-Doug

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Estelle Rogers <erogers at projectvote.org>
To: Rick Hasen <rhasen at law.uci.edu>
Cc: "law-election at UCI.edu" <law-election at uci.edu>
Date: Wed, 18 Apr 2012 10:52:45 -0400
Subject: [EL] Gonzales case and voter registration drives
I'd question any reading of the federal form that didn't "allow" for
community voter registration drives.  After all, the creation of the
simplified form and the recognition of the importance of drives were
contained in the same legislation, the NVRA, which, as the Gonzales court
recognized, was enacted with the goal of streamlining voter registration.
 There's nothing on the form that "allows" for drives, but then there's
nothing that precludes them either.  I hope the "knowledgeable reader" will
please explain the problem.

Estelle H. Rogers, Esq.
Legislative Director
Project Vote
202-546-4173, ext. 310

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On Apr 18, 2012, at 10:40 AM, Rick Hasen wrote:

 Posted on April 18, 2012 7:37 am <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=33112> by Rick
Hasen <http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Following up on this post, <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=33081>
Howard has this
news roundup <http://howappealing.law.com/041712.html#045403>. One
knowledgeable reader questioned my suggestion in the last post that the
federal form could be used for third party voter registration efforts,
suggesting that the form
<http://www.rockthevote.com/assets/publications/field/download-the-national-voter.pdf>doesn’t
seem to allow such efforts. I’d welcome other thoughts on that question.

And it is worth taking a trip down memory lane to remember that the first
time the EAC seemed to divide
o<http://www.eac.gov/assets/1/News/Vice%20Chairman%20Ray%20Martinez%20III%20Position%20Statement%20Regarding%20Arizona%27s%20Request%20for%20Accomodation.pdf>n
party lines (when there actually were EAC Commissioners) was over whether
the federal form should be amended to allow for Arizona’s citizenship
requirements.
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