[EL] The Age Discrimination Act of 1975, federal financial assistance for elections administration, and state law restrictions on voting ineligibility based on age

[Brown, Mark]

We may be confusing two different statutes, the ADEA (which builds in a critical of 40 and does not authorize reverse actions by those below that age) and the ADA, which has no critical age stated.  Along with the absence of a critical age, such as 40 in the ADEA, the ADA does not apply to the employment context, of course, but requires the federal money as a hook.  Assuming a state/local agency receives federal money, it is covered by the ADA, and some lower courts have allowed reverse discrimination claims (that is, claims by young for providing better treatment to old).

With that said, it is not clear that the ADA creates a private cause of action, with the majority of courts apparently not recognizing one.  Further, the ADA has a pretty big exception for age discrimination that is necessary to the accomplishment of the program, which I assume would mean that drivers' licenses and probably voting requirements are excepted.  Still, providing preferential treatment for the elderly in the context of voting would still seem problematic to me, although I must confess I have not done enough research into the ADA.  It is a rarely-used law in the big scheme of Civil Rights Litigation.

________________________________
From: Law-election <law-election-bounces at department-lists.uci.edu> on behalf of Smith, Bradley <BSmith at law.capital.edu>
Sent: Wednesday, August 25, 2021 1:20 PM
To: Robin Chen <rschanche at gmail.com>; law-election at department-lists.uci.edu <law-election at department-lists.uci.edu>
Subject: Re: [EL] The Age Discrimination Act of 1975, federal financial assistance for elections administration, and state law restrictions on voting ineligibility based on age


Robin,

I gather you are wondering if laws setting a minimum age for voting violate the Age Discrimination Act. The ADA has been interpreted as prohibiting discrimination against those older than age 50, but not against those who are younger. The ADA does not prohibit an employer, for example, from saying “we don’t hire people under age 30.” See e.g. General Dynamics Land Systems, Inc v. Cline, 540 U.S. 581 (2004).



Brad Smith



From: Law-election <law-election-bounces at department-lists.uci.edu> On Behalf Of Robin Chen
Sent: Wednesday, August 25, 2021 11:59 AM
To: law-election at department-lists.uci.edu
Subject: [EL] The Age Discrimination Act of 1975, federal financial assistance for elections administration, and state law restrictions on voting ineligibility based on age





** [ This email originated outside of Capital University ] **



Dear Election Law Listserv,



"The Age Discrimination Act of 1975 prohibits discrimination on the basis of age in programs or activities receiving Federal financial assistance."



But, isn't election administration a program/activity receiving federal financial assistance?  https://www.eac.gov/payments-and-grants/election-security-funds<https://linkprotect.cudasvc.com/url?a=https%3a%2f%2fwww.eac.gov%2fpayments-and-grants%2felection-security-funds&c=E,1,CIMq3vY6rsPT8XM8f1ElkAHck8pNv1zVJDe_wbU_WGpdKtCu1CNqbSBonsdjw0-WXkZVxggEpN9gurHqsQCMxWxdcET409WoGUQsDHtkzy-d&typo=1>

Every state is listed here, and then some. https://www.eac.gov/sites/default/files/paymentgrants/Funding_Chart_ElectionSecurity.pdf<https://linkprotect.cudasvc.com/url?a=https%3a%2f%2fwww.eac.gov%2fsites%2fdefault%2ffiles%2fpaymentgrants%2fFunding_Chart_ElectionSecurity.pdf&c=E,1,-4UKKauBGANj4Phx1c05rePBQoBO8DcEotM0VUjtQ8r8LLgZqYafi5KvJ7M9ob6eaOlh-4hCr7HuqHIQCco6fLFQ-lAPpz8MYk96duX2oLyQXUGBA00,&typo=1>



Every state _does_ discriminate based on age in the laws about qualifications of voters.



Sorry to ask a naive question, but isn't this problematic?



I'd appreciate hearing your thoughts on this.



Kindly,

Robin
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://webshare.law.ucla.edu/Listservs/law-election/attachments/20210825/d265fdd8/attachment.html>