[EL] two pending bills in US House to abolish EAC

[Michael P McDonald]

It would be difficult to imagine Democratic members of the EAC voting in favor of a proof of citizenship as a qualification to register to vote. Thus, isn't the preferred outcome for Republicans to keep the EAC as it is, without a quorum (or any) commissioners, so that Arizona can apply to the EAC for a change to the federal voter registration form, have no action because of a lack of a quorum, and then sue for relief?

If the court was willing to rule in favor of Arizona under these circumstances, it would seem to be a subtle power grab by the court, enabled by these hyper-polarized times. The court can demand that the political process produce a solution, and when none is comes, can impose its own policy solution. This is essentially the process that has played out with Section 5 (although we do not know the ruling yet).

But, this scenario is not without precedent in election law. When states cannot produce redistricting plans, courts impose their own. Indeed, the political calculations are very similar. The side that believes the court will rule in their favor balks at negotiations, forcing a stalemate.

I'm also stunned that the EAC, a commission that everyone thought was toothless, essentially holds a veto over states' voter registration qualifications. Does this mean that the EAC can impose any basket of voter registration qualifications, from making voter registration more accessible to less accessible, simply by changing the federal voter registration form? Did Congress ever imagine that this power was being given to the EAC when it was created?

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Dr. Michael P. McDonald
Associate Professor
George Mason University
4400 University Drive - 3F4
Fairfax, VA 22030-4444

phone:   703-993-4191 (office)
e-mail:  mmcdon at gmu.edu
web:     http://elections.gmu.edu
twitter: @ElectProject
________________________________
From: law-election-bounces at department-lists.uci.edu [law-election-bounces at department-lists.uci.edu] on behalf of Richard Winger [richardwinger at yahoo.com]
Sent: Monday, June 17, 2013 11:13 PM
To: law-election at uci.edu
Subject: [EL] two pending bills in US House to abolish EAC

As many already realize, there are two bills pending in the US House of Representatives to abolish the EAC.  They are HR 260 and HR 1994, both by Congressman Gregg Harper, a Republican of Mississippi.

It wasn't likely that these bills would have passed in any event, but I still think the US Supreme Court Arizona decision today will build support in congress for the EAC, especially among Republicans.  Since the existing federal Voter Registration Act says states like Arizona can appeal to the EAC if they want more questions added to the federal postcard form, if the EAC were abolished, there would be no preliminary procedure by which states like Arizona could seek permission to modify the form.  Since Justice Scalia said the 1993 voter registration law does take precedence over state laws concerning that federal registration form, if the EAC were gone, I see no path for Arizona to get what it wants.

Richard Winger
415-922-9779
PO Box 470296, San Francisco Ca 94147
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