No. of Recommendations: 1
Well, the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 (also known as the Motor Voter Act) might beg to differ with you.
I'd argue it agrees with me. Or it would if I would state my position better. Let me try again.
Yes, the Feds have some ability to draw lines around what the states do in elections and voter registration. States can do this and can't do that. (for a few defined thiss and thats.) But the Feds don't actually do the work of elections. That is still up to the states. If a state is doing something that violates a federal election law, the Feds have to go to court. They don't simply get to step in and impose a fix.
Administration officials have threatened to send ICE officers to oversee elections and look for undocumented persons. If there are non-citizens voting or attempting to vote (which, from my understanding, there are vanishingly few), the Feds need to bring their evidence to court. If the problem were wide-spread enough (which, again, it almost certainly isn't), the courts could then give the Feds some more direct ability to oversee elections in that problematic area, perhaps a county or two. Or can they actually proactively intervene in an election without a court order?
If I were a county or state election official, and wanted to be proactive, I'd be tempted to go to federal court and ask for an injunction against the federal government. I'd show that there were credible threats to election integrity in my jurisdiction (enter into the record those statements from administration officials). I'd show the procedures followed in my jurisdiction to make sure only citizens are registered and voting, and the results of audits of those procedures. Then I'd point out the potential voter suppression that could happen if Federal agents were to be visibly present around polling places. And rather than go it alone, I'd get in touch with election officials around the country and perhaps band together in this ask for an injunction.
Because waiting until after ICE has started harassing people waiting in line to vote is too late. The courts may try, but there will be no actual fix for the voter suppression that would happen in that setting. Even invalidating election results and re-doing the election isn't the same as doing it right in the first place. Those who were intimidated in the invalidated election would have little incentive to risk intimidation again in a re-do of the election.
--Peter
