Breaking: DC Circuit Reverses in Kobach-EAC Proof of Citizenship Voting Case

[Gothmog]

This discussion thread was locked as off-topic by In_The_Wind (a host of the Latest Breaking News forum).

Source: Election Law Blog

Acting very quickly after oral argument, the United States Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit has issued this order preliminarily enjoining changing the federal form to allow Kansas, Alabama, and Georgia to require documentary proof of citizenship if registering to vote using a federal voter registration form.

The vote was 2-1, with senior Judge Randolph dissenting.

The ruling is only on the request for a preliminary injunction. There can still be a full hearing on the merits.

The upshot is that for this election, the federal form cannot include a state request for proof of citizenship documentation before voting. That is good news for voters, because it will be easier to register and vote in these states. And it won’t harm voters or the state, because the amount of non-citizen voting is quite small.

Read more: http://electionlawblog.org/?p=86390

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The Kansas Sec. of State, Kobach, has been trying to force voters to provide proof of citizenship to register to vote. A Kobach ally got on the United States Election Assistance Commission and adopted Kobach's proposal for voters in Kansas, Georgia and Arizona. The resulto of this would be that voters in these states would have to provide birth certificates or other forms of proof of citizenship to register to vote. The district court denied injunction but the DC circuit overturned and granted injunction. The Obama administration did not defend this rule and weighed in on the winning side.

[SunSeeker]

1. K & R

[Ligyron]

2. So they can still require papers for State but not Federal elections?

Some legal minds please help me out here.

Is there any punishment for Kobach available or is he just enjoined?

[BumRushDaShow]

4. More info at the earlier LBN post

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10141569183

Basically, the federal government created a voter registration form that is by law supposed to be unaltered. Period. "Someone" within the federal government "changed" the federal form at the behest of 3 states, so they could use that altered version for voter registration.

The NVRA (National Voter Registration Act - often dubbed - "Motor Voter" law) promulgated the creation of the form. HOWEVER, to further clarify -

Does Section 5 of the NVRA mandate the use by States of any particular forms or procedures?

Yes. Each State must include a voter registration form as part of an application for a State driver’s license and any application for driver’s license renewal.

The voter registration portion of the application may not require any information that duplicates information required on the driver’s license portion of the application and may require only the minimum amount of information necessary to prevent duplicate voter registrations and permit State officials both to determine the eligibility of the applicant to vote and to administer the voting process.

The voter registration application must state each voter eligibility requirement (including citizenship), contain an attestation that the applicant meets each requirement, state the penalties provided by law for submission of a false voter registration application and require the signature of the applicant under penalty of perjury. In addition, the application shall also include statements specifying that: 1) if an applicant declines to register to vote, the fact that the applicant has declined to register will remain confidential and will be used only for voter registration purposes; and 2) if an applicant does register to vote, the identity of the office at which the applicant submits a voter registration application will remain confidential and will be used only for voter registration purposes.

When a state contracts with a private entity to administer services in an agency that is required to offer voter registration, the ultimate responsibility for ensuring provision of voter registration services remains with the state, and the voter registration requirements under the NVRA remain the same.

https://www.justice.gov/crt/national-voter-registration-act-1993-nvra

The bolded part is what is at issue. The signatory must "attest" (via the signature) that they meet the requirements, NOT somehow be required to provide some additional "proof" that they are a citizen.

http://www.eac.gov/voter_resources/register_to_vote.aspx

[Ligyron]

5. K, got it and thanks for that. eom

[BumRushDaShow]

3. Dupe

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10141569183

[Bernardo de La Paz]

6. "amount of non-citizen voting" is EXTREMELY small.

[truebluegreen]

7. A preliminary injuction is not a reversal.

[In_The_Wind]

8. Locking Duplicate Thread

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10141569183