In Florida, activist attorney Marc Elias is once again attacking a commonsense election integrity measure, this time a requirement that voters sign their voter registration forms. The Supreme Court long ago confirmed that states must have reasonable regulations to run fair, honest, orderly, and confidence-inspiring elections.
- In 2021, Elias lost before the Supreme Court when he tried to argue that Arizona’s commonsense election integrity measures discriminated against voters based on race. In that case, he failed to persuade the Court that Arizona had violated the Voting Rights Act. (U.S. Supreme Court).
- Elias’ new approach is to argue that the “Materiality Provision” of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 invalidates any election regulation that does not directly bear on a person’s eligibility to vote. That includes requirements to sign registration forms, to sign ballots, to date ballots, to have witnesses identify themselves on the ballot envelope, and to return ballots by Election Day, among others.
- The Supreme Court and at least two different federal appellate courts have already thrown cold water on this effort to destroy states’ authority to regulate their own elections. But Elias remains undeterred, with litigation invoking the Materiality Provision pending nationwide, most notably in Pennsylvania, Georgia, Texas, and now Florida.
- As in the past, RITE will support Florida’s efforts to defend its election integrity measures against Elias’s sustained but meritless assaults. RITE agrees with the Supreme Court that states have ample authority to regulate their elections and that asking voters to adhere to commonsense requirements does not violate their civil rights.
