The Election Admin Picture II: NASS Open Letter

In addition to the brief arguments I lay out as part of this entry, there are other very good arguments in favor of avoiding a heavy federal hand in creating broad and uniform election administration procedures that would supersede state procedures.

The National Association of Secretaries of State (NASS), a body comprised of most states' chief election officials, has issued an open letter to Congress asking the legislators to "limit [the federal government's] scope" in addressing election administration issues. NASS is also asking that Congress "leave election administration decisions up to the states", pointing out an important aspect of federalism:

"States can play a crucial and even pioneering role in this country's governance. U.S. Supreme Court Justice Louis D. Brandeis recognized that in a 1932 dissenting opinion for the Court: 'It is one of the happy incidents of the federal system that a single courageous state may, if its citizens choose, serve as a laboratory; and try novel social and economic experiments without risk to the rest of the country.' Legislation that would introduce national standards for elections would remove the opportunity for states to continually improve their systems. Such federal legislation would shackle the country to a single bureaucratic system that could quickly become obsolete and would make change cumbersome."