The Independent View: Federal Court Sends States Proof Of Citizenship Requirement Back To EAC For Reconsideration

Judge Richard J. Leon in the District Court of the District of Columbia, issued a Decision in the States Proof Of Citizenship Requirement, League of Women Voters v. Harrington (once League of Women Voters v. Newby).

This longstanding Dispute traces back to 2016, when then-Director Brian Newby Approved Kansas’s, Georgia’s, and Alabama’s Requests, to Modify the “Federal Voter Registration Form” to include, Proof of Citizenship instructions, for their States.

The Legacy of this Dispute also goes back to Arizona v. Inter Tribal Council of Arizona, Inc., a Supreme Court Decision back in 2013, on the Election Assistance Commission (EAC)’s Authority, and Proof-of-Citizenship on the Federal Voter Registration Form.

The Court found that under the Administrative Procedure Act, Newby’s Decision was “arbitrary and capricious.”

The National Voter Registration Act (NVRA or Motor Voter Act), Requires that the Instructions on the Federal Form are “necessary to enable [States] to assess the eligibility of [] applicant[s] and to administer voter registration and other parts of the election process.”

The Federsl Form states:

I have reviewed my state's instructions and I swear/affirm that:

I am a United States citizen.

I meet the eligibility requirements of my state and subscribe to any oath required.

The information I have provided is true to the best of my knowledge under penalty of perjury.

If I have provided false information, I may be fined, imprisoned, or (if not a U.S. citizen) deported from or refused entry to the United States.

The Court found that Newby was “mistaken” in believing that he was Not Required to consider the “necessity” of the Changes. Without any Belief he needed to consider the Matter, he acted Improperly.

There are a Series of Tenth Circuit Cases on Kansas’s Saga after Inter Tribal on this matter.

But the Case is now sent back to the EAC, Five years after the Original Decision, to consider Georgia’s and Alabama’s Requests, pursuant to the NVRA, to the extent they continue to seek State-Specific Instructions, that Voters has to show, Proof of Citizenship, to Vote in Local Elections.