| Subject: House To Consider Two Amendments on Floor for VRA Renewal: Proactive Bailout and Change in Coverage Formula |
| From: Rick Hasen |
| Date: 6/20/2006, 10:01 PM |
| To: election-law |
So reports Roll Call in a breaking news report (paid subscription required). You can find details about the proactive bailout proposal, submitted by Rep. Westmoreland, here. I have not seen the trigger proposal, authored by Rep. Norwood, but Roll Call describes it this way: the coverage "formula [would] be modified to take into account the results of the three most recent presidential elections on a rolling basis, rather than the static figures it is now based on. In addition, the new formula would subject any state to Section 5 requirements should it be determined that a state has a 'discriminatory test' in place, or if voter turnout falls below 50 percent in any of those three elections."
The debate is scheduled for Wednesday and the vote for Thursday.
-- Rick Hasen William H. Hannon Distinguished Professor of Law Loyola Law School 919 Albany Street Los Angeles, CA 90015-1211 (213)736-1466 (213)380-3769 - fax rick.hasen@lls.edu http://www.lls.edu/academics/faculty/hasen.html http://electionlawblog.org