Eye On Illinois: States have power to regulate elections, until they don’t

One day, two headlines, same underlying theme.

The headlines, from Capitol News Illinois, Wednesday:

1. “Pritzker calls Texas GOP’s remap effort ‘cheating,’ doesn’t rule out Illinois response; Illinois Republicans mock Pritzker’s approval of 2021 Democrat-leaning maps”

2. “Feds weigh in on lawsuit challenging how Illinois maintains voter registration rolls”

Both stories, interesting in their own ways and full of nuance, nonetheless distill to the same essence: the U.S. Constitution leaves almost everything related to elections up to individual states, but people who don’t like the outcomes are relentless in trying to use federal courts to reach their desired goals.

I’ve made this point repeatedly, often in context with another story CNI tracks: U.S. Rep. Mike Bost’s lawsuit aiming to undo Illinois’ mail-in voting rules. The Murphysboro Republican made this point as succinctly as anyone on Jan. 7, 2021: “The Constitution is clear: state legislatures set the rules for states in conducting their elections.”

He expressed a similar sentiment that August: “The Supreme Court has ruled that the U.S. Constitution provides each state the right to regulate their own elections, not the federal government. This is a fundamental principle of federalism.”

The Jan. 7 quote comes from a release explaining Bost’s vote against certifying 2020 Electoral College votes from Pennsylvania and Arizona, “because, in my belief, they failed to meet that constitutional standard.”

The August remark references his House vote against Democrats’ legislation, adding: “We can all agree on the importance of ensuring the integrity of our elections, but what House Democrats want is to nationalize our state and local elections and give unelected Washington bureaucrats power over state election laws.”

And so it is with Wednesday’s stories. Republicans are right, Illinois Democrats drew Congressional maps strongly in their favor. The governor signed them after pledging he wouldn’t, just like the last Democratic governor. But gerrymandering runs rampant in red states, too, so our blue crew won’t voluntarily disarm. The solution is a federal fair maps law. Don’t hold your breath.

Regarding the lawsuit, the feds have a compelling case: Illinois doesn’t seem to be fully complying with the 1993 National Voter Registration Act’s reporting provisions. But so does the state, if proven right in its contention that delegation to local election authorities is allowable under NVRA. The solution is NVRA amendments clearly delineating what each state must track and produce and the penalties for failure. Again, don’t hold your breath.

There are plenty of other areas where federal interest conflicts with state structures, and the same dynamic happens when Springfield wants to dictate to local governments. The imbalance usually persists until a court rules.

A feckless Congress isn’t the only culprit, but it’s the best place to start solving the problem.

• Scott T. Holland writes about state government issues for Shaw Local News Network. He can be reached at sholland@shawmedia.com.