By Christina A. Cassidy
Atlanta (AP) – Florida’s “Hanging Chads” voting controversy competed the nation during the 2000 presidential competition And later prompted the congress to create an independent commission to help states update their voting equipment.
The American Elections Assistance Commission has worked in an anonymity relative since, but is now at the heart of the president Donald Trumpexecutive decree Seeking to revise the elections. One of the committee’s councils will meet in Northern Carolina on Thursday, the first meeting linked to the Commission since the guidelines have been announced.
Among other thingsTrump ordered the agency to update the registration form for national voters to add a requirement for proof of citizenship. But if the president can order an independent agency to act and if the commission has the power to do what Trump wants probably be settled in court.
Why was the commission created?
The congress approved the HELP America vote law in 2002 to help states replace obsolete voting systems and improve the vote.
It is adopted at an overwhelming majority with bipartisan support and was promulgated by the president of the time George W. BushA Republican who won the 2000 presidential competition against the Democrat Al Gore In a disputed election that went to the Supreme Court of the United States.
The culprit was a method of voting at the time in Florida which was based on the so-called Punch à la carte voting bulletinsThis forced voters to mark their choices using a portable stylus. But thousands of voters have not completely struck their choices of ballot, leaving it to local elections employees – Some using magnifying glass – Divine their intention. The chaos that resulted in the swing pivot state and intense national attention transformed the “suspended” and “pregnant” Chads in terms of the household.
The Supreme Court finally Decree The countLeaving Bush with a 537 -voting margin of victory which gave him the electoral votes he needed to claim the presidency.
The 2002 law was designed to modernize the voting process. Under the latter, the election assistance committee received a number of mandates: distribute $ 2.8 billion in federal money for new voting equipment; Create voluntary directives for voting systems and establish a federal test and certification program for them; Supervise the registration form for national voters; and collect data on federal elections.
The four commissioners who direct the agency are appointed by the president on the basis of majority recommendations and minority leaders of the American Chamber and Senate, then confirmed by the Senate. No political party can be represented by more than two commissioners.
At various times, the agency has faced budget cuts, endowment shortages and a blocking fat caused by vacant posts in the commissioner positions. But a coherent budget and a quorum among the commissioners since 2019 have led to increased stability, electoral officials renting his efforts in recent years.
Trump wants to put his own stamp on the elections
Trump has long been skeptical about how the elections are executed, making false claims That the 2020 elections were “faked” against him. Multiple opinions of this election have confirmed His loss against Democrat Joe Biden.
He continued to criticize the voting processes since his victory last November, including in his March 25 executive decreeWho calls for major changes which include a requirement for proof of citizenship when people register to vote for the federal elections.
While Trump has ordered several federal agencies to act, two of the main provisions of the order were directed against the election assistance commission.
He was invited to “take the appropriate measures” within 30 days to require documentary evidence of citizenship on the registration form for national voters. The order describes acceptable documents as a American passport, a Real Compliant driving license or official military identity document which “indicates that the applicant is a citizen” or an identity document with photo issued by the government accompanied by proof of citizenship.
He also ordered the Commission to “take all appropriate measures to stop” federal money for any state which fails to use the form which includes the requirement of proof of citizenship, although a handful of states are exempt under federal law. Trump also wants the Commission to revise voting systems standards.
Election experts said that the changes are not realistic given the process described in federal law, which includes examinations of advisory groups and a period of comments from the public. The last major update of voluntary directives for voting systems has taken years and was approved by the Commission in 2021.
“It is practically impossible to demand that the ACE commissioners create entirely new directives of the voting system based on very questionable criteria within 180 days,” said David Becker, a former lawyer for the Ministry of Justice who heads the Center for Election Innovation & Research. “This raises the question of whether it was designed to create chaos because it cannot be finished practically and competent.”
The proceedings say that the commission is independent and is not subject to the orders of Trump
Trump’s executive order has encouraged legal proceedings By voting with rights for the defense of rights, the Democratic Party and elected Democrats in 21 states. They say that the president goes beyond his authority under the Constitution.
A trial by 19 Democratic general prosecutors Maintains that the Commission was created by the Congress to operate independently to protect the elections and is required to make decisions “under bipartite standards” and in collaboration with the States.
“The EO elections seek to eradicate all these guarantees – aimed at forcing the Commission to underline the president’s political preferences, among other things, to the registration of voters and voting systems,” the lawyers of the States wrote.
Justin Levitt, an expert in constitutional law who was previously as deputy deputy deputy prosecutor of the Division of Civil Rights of the Ministry of Justice, said that the Congress created the President’s independent election commission and did not give him any application authority.
“It is not like most other agencies in the federal government, and that makes a big difference in the amount it can make or to advance Trump’s agenda,” said Levitt. “Legally, this (order) has as much impact as if I told the EAC what to do or if you told the EAC what to do.”
What happens next?
On Thursday, the board of directors of the committee standards begins its annual meeting in Northern Carolina, where it will hear electoral officials from across the country, many of whom are likely to have questions about the role of the Commission under Trump’s order.
Earlier this month, the executive director of the Commission sent a letter to the electoral officials of the State summarizing the requirement of proof of citizenship described in the order of Trump and asking how the States would propose to implement it, if necessary, and what effect it would have on the registration of voters.
President Donald Palmer said the agency followed the law, which governs how any change proposed to the federal form can be made.
“This is the process we have done in the past, and this is the process that we have done this time,” said Palmer. “In my mind, it’s really for information from the United States.”
He has welcomed the Commission’s capacity in recent years to find a consensus and noted that the dispute would probably settle questions concerning the decree.
“We are in the executive power, but we are an independent agency. And therefore these answers will do it-I am sure that they will be resolved,” he said.
The writer Associated Press Ali Swenson in New York contributed to this report.
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