I
represent
Kings County, CA, during their
discussion with DOJ about bailout. I am unable
to comment specifically about
Michael’s observation on that County due to attorney-client privilege. However, the information I reported
earlier is accurate. DOJ has not
turned down a single jurisdiction that has requested a bailout.
As
for the
burdens of gathering data, it is not really that difficult. Some registrars gather the information
in a week or so. I have encouraged
more jurisdictions to pursue bailout by speaking at conferences of
local
election officials in covered states.
Many officials tell me they were not aware it was so easy or
cost-effective. I am starting to
see a lot more activity in Virginia right now
after I spoke there this Spring. Three jurisdictions have bailout requests
pending with DOJ now and two have filed suit; the City of Salem and Botetourt County. I expect that roughly
another half dozen counties/cities will be pursuing bailout by late
summer. Some local officials do not want to
stir
up a hornet’s nest with the minority community by pursuing a bailout. Other local officials simply have
built the preclearance process into their routine and do not consider
it
burdensome. Gerry Hebert
J.
Gerald Hebert
Executive
Director & Director of Litigation
Campaign
Legal Center
1640
Rhode Island Ave., NW Suite 650
Washington,
DC 20036
(202)
736-2200 ext. 11 (office)
(202)
736-2222 (fax)
-----Original
Message-----
From: owner-election-law_gl@majordomo.lls.edu
[mailto:owner-election-law_gl@majordomo.lls.edu] On Behalf Of Michael
McDonald
Sent: Tuesday, June
20, 2006 11:03
PM
To: 'election-law'
Subject: RE: Hasen:
Proactive
Bailout Amendment to Be Offered in House Rules Committee
I am
glad to see this
discussion, too, which I kicked around at last year’s Russell-Sage
conference on the VRA reauthorization (always good to let a funder know
their
money was well spent!). Let me add some comments, which I hope that
Gerry
will respond to:
·
Rep. Westmoreland: Although these
requirements were
put in place during the 1982 amendments to the VRA, only 11
jurisdictions
(counties in Virginia) have bailed out from coverage in the last 25
years.
Hebert
Response:
While this is true, none have been denied a bailout. Most
jurisdictions
are unaware of the bailout option or erroneously believe it is too
costly. Full
disclosure: I represented all the VA jurisdictions that bailed out (and
some
were cities).
McDonald:
Gerry’s
response is technically true. In all, from 1965-1982 17 jurisdictions
either rescinded their bailout request or were denied bailout. A
jurisdiction has never won bailout over the DOJ’s objection (see
O’Rourke (1983) and Hancock and Tredway (1985)). More recently, and
this is where I think Gerry is a little wrong, it is my belief that
Kings
County, CA never filed their bailout litigation because DOJ signaled
their
opposition.
·
Rep. Westmoreland: The amendment requires the
Department of Justice (DOJ) to assemble a list each year of
jurisdictions that
are eligible for bailout based on its analysis, and notify the public
and those
jurisdictions of their status.
Hebert
Response: I will
be blogging on this later today on the Campaign Legal Center’s blog,
but
it is not feasible to have DOJ make a determination of bailout
eligibility for
all the covered jurisdictions.
McDonald:
Referring to my
last point, it would be useful information to local jurisdictions to
know if
DOJ would at least not preemptively oppose bailout. Perhaps it is not
possible to do so each year, as required in the amendment, but a
one-time three
year evaluation as proposed by Rick might be possible.
·
Rep. Westmoreland: Then the DOJ would be
required to
consent to an entry of declaratory judgment in the DC District Court
(procedure
for bailout) by the jurisdiction, drastically reducing the cost and
factfinding
necessary to achieve bailout under the statute.
Hebert
Response:
Bailout costs have been minimal so it is hard to imagine how the cost
could be
drastically reduced. Furthermore, if the bailout criteria are not
being
changed, then it’s not at all clear that the amount of fact finding
would
be reduced.
McDonald: If
it is not
costly, then why is Gerry the only one successfully litigating
bailout?
It may not be costly in terms of money, but I suspect that it is costly
in
terms of time and expertise for a local jurisdiction’s legal council.
Gerry, what is going on? Why don’t you have more clients?