Congressional Omnibus Spending Bill Includes Funds for EAC

Even as the U.S. Election Assistance Commission (EAC) has worked to re-establish itself as a valuable resource on election administration policy, there has been a nagging worry that Congressional doubts about the agency, which contributed to its lengthy hiatus, would somehow prevent it from getting the funds it needs to continue. Those worries were dispelled somewhat with news that funding for the agency is included in the new omnibus spending bill slated for passage this week.

The spending deal that Congress is poised to pass this week will give the EAC $9.6 million next year to help states run elections, including Congressional and Presidential contests.

The funding was added at the request of the administration despite the opposition of longtime EAC foe, Rep. Gregg Harper of Mississippi and other Republicans who complain the Commission has outlived its usefulness. Harper said he plans to continue working to defund the agency. “We will deal with it in the future. This is still an agency that needs to be eliminated.” he said.

While the EAC isn’t ready to comment until the bill is enacted into law, and given the agency’s history, who can blame them, they will have a full plate as the nation enters a Presidential election year. Commissioners have said pressing issues the EAC plans to tackle next include aging voting machines. The EAC launched a listening tour across the country earlier this year.

For years, the EAC operated without an Executive Director and lacked enough Commissioners for a quorum. Three of the four Commissioner slots are currently filled.

Last month, the agency hired Brian Newby, a former Election Commissioner from Kansas, as Executive Director. It also hired Cliff Tatum, former Executive Director of the District of Columbia Board of Elections, as General Counsel.

EAC priorities for next year include conducting a state-by-state voting survey and serving as an information clearinghouse for local officials, according to the agency’s budget request.

Despite the omnibus, the battle over the EAC’s future will go on. Voting rights groups say the agency should remain in place.

In a letter last month, Wade Henderson, President of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, urged House Committee leaders to continue funding the EAC, which he called “instrumental to protecting voters’ rights.” “At a time when voters in many jurisdictions must spend hours in line waiting to vote due to broken machines and under-trained workers, we need a fully funded EAC that will ensure that elections are run as effectively as possible in keeping with the HAVA standards,” Henderson wrote.

At least for now, the EAC will able able to do its work in a challenging election year.

Here’s hoping that their ongoing efforts to re-establish the agency’s value as policy resource for election officials across the country will make future funding discussions less fraught.











NYC Wins When Everyone Can Vote! Michael H. Drucker

Federal Voter Registration Form Can Require Documents to Prove Citizenship

On March 19, U.S. District Court Judge Eric Melgren, a George W. Bush appointee, issued an opinion in Kobach v U.S. Election Assistance.

The opinion determines that Kansas and Arizona are free to require that individuals who use the federal voter registration form must attach documents that prove they are citizens.

Specifically, the decision orders the U.S. Election Assistance Commission to amend the federal forms in use in Kansas and Arizona, so that the instructions on the forms used in those states explains to applicants that the paperwork is needed.

In today’s decision, the federal district court makes three essential moves.

1. The judge expresses doubt, without resolving the question, whether the Executive Director of the EAC had the authority to decide this question. The court said it was not necessary to resolve the question because even if the EAC had a full set of commissioners and voted 4-0 to reject Arizona’s request, the EAC would still lose for other reasons.

2. The judge expresses doubt, without resolving the question, whether Congress would have the authority in the NVRA to pass a law about voter registration which would block states from collecting information, such as citizenship information, necessary to verify voter qualifications. Again, it said it did not reach the issue.

3. The judge concludes that Congress in the NVRA did not expressly preempt states from requiring citizenship information (if it did, it would raise serious constitutional questions about the NVRA). In the absence of express preemption, and in light of the doubtful constitutional power to prevent states from collecting this information, the EAC was without power to deny Arizona and Kansas their request to include the information on the federal form.

UPDATE
Alabama, Georgia, and South Carolina will start a review of adding citizenship documentation to their voter registration process.

CLICK HERE to read the opinion.

We now will have to watch as this decision goes through the appeal process.










NYC Wins When Everyone Can Vote!

Michael H. Drucker
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