Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV) Endorsed, The John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act (H.R. 4), which would revive Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act (VRA), by creating a New Formula for Preclearance of State Voting Laws who Violate the New Formula.
H.R. 4 would create a New Coverage Formula that potentially applies to All States and hinges on a Finding of Repeated Voting Rights Violations in the Preceding 25 years. “Repeated findings” is defined as 15 or more Voting Rights Violations occurring in the State during the previous 25 years, or 10 or more Violations if the State itself, as Opposed to a Local Jurisdiction within the State, committed a Violation. Local Jurisdictions have a Lower Trigger for Preclearance at just 3 or more Violations in the 25 year Period.
The idea of a Nationwide Preclearance wouldn’t address the Shelby County Court’s concern that Preclearance itself may No longer be an available Remedy under the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments because Modern Voting Conditions aren’t bad enough anywhere to justify Extraordinary Federal Intervention. As the Court put it, the Claim that “the preclearance requirement, even without regard to its disparate coverage, is now unconstitutional . . . . ha[s] a good deal of force.”
There’s a Revision to H.R. 4, that would solve this Problem. applying the Law to Federal Elections Only.
If the Law were Restricted to Federal Elections, then Congress could pass it under the Elections Clause of Article I and the Electors Clause of Article II.
These Provisions aren’t Limited by the Congruence and Proportionality Standard for Exercises of Congress’s Fourteenth Amendment Enforcement Power, and they’re also Not Limited by Shelby County’s various Glosses on Congress’s Fifteenth Amendment Enforcement Power.
Under the Elections Clause, in particular, Congress has essentially Plenary Authority over Congressional Elections. It could write a Comprehensive Code for Congressional Elections, if it wanted. This Greater Power certainly includes the Lesser Power of subjecting All State Regulations of Congressional Elections to Preclearance.
This Package of Nationwide Preclearance for Federal Electoral Regulations only would be very Effective at Stopping Voter Suppression. Most voting Restrictions Disproportionately burden Minority Citizens. Under well-established Precedent, that Disparate Racial Impact would lead to Preclearance being Denied to these Measures.
The Limits on Absentee Voting, Drop Boxes, Polling Place Hours, and so on, recently adopted by Florida, Georgia, and other States, they’d all be Blocked because they’d Worsen the Electoral Position of Minority Citizens.
But Nationwide Preclearance for Federal Electoral Regulations only would be mostly impotent against Partisan Gerrymandering. The Supreme Court, now will Not allow the Federal courts to take Gerrymandering Cases.
The Reason is that Aggressive Partisan Gerrymanders are perfectly Compatible with Maintaining, or even Increasing, the Numbers of Minority Ability Districts.
Republican Mapmakers, in particular, are usually happy to, Preserve or even Augment, these Districts because they Inefficiently Pack Democratic Voters, leaving fewer Democrats in the Remaining Districts.
As an illustration, consider the 2010s Experiences of the Southern States formerly covered by Section 5. All of their Congressional Maps were drawn by Republicans and Biased in a Republican Direction, Egregiously so in: AL, GA, NC, and SC). With the Exception of Texas, All of their Maps were also Precleared. Section 5 did next to Nothing in the 2010s to thwart Partisan Gerrymandering.
Accordingly, if H.R. 4 is to be the Vehicle for Electoral Reform instead of H.R. 1, per Manchin’s Suggestion, it needs to be Supplemented by Provisions that would Stop Partisan Gerrymandering. The most Logical Candidates are H.R. 1’s own Anti-Gerrymandering Sections, which would:
(1) Require States to use independent Redistricting Commissions for their Congressional Plans.
(2) Prohibit Maps that have the Intent or Effect of unduly Favoring a Party.
I have been calling for, a Nationwide Preclearance after each Census, for a long time.
NYC Wins When Everyone Can Vote! Michael H. Drucker
