Thread by @mcpli

Watching GOP Senators talk today about federalizing state elections is completely head spinning - because, of course, the federal government has *long* set election rules and standards. #S1 #HR1 #ForThePeople 1/

The Voting Rights Act of 1965 is an obvious example. But more recently, UOCAVA (1986), National Voter Registration Act (1993), the Help America Vote Act (2002) - the first and last of which were signed into law by Republican presidents. #S1 #HR1 #ForThePeople 2/

In some cases, these federal laws forced states to change longstanding practices. The Help America Vote Act, for example, required states to have a chief election officer - something many states did not have at the time. #S1 #HR1 #ForThePeople 3/

And this doesn’t even get to earlier federal interventions - the mandate to use single-member districts for congressional elections (1842), creation of a single national election day (1845), etc. #S1 #HR1 #ForThePeople 4/

And let’s go back further - to the history of the Elections Clause, which, as Madison explained, was needed in case state legislatures abused their power to “mould their [election] regulations as to favor the candidates they wished to succeed.” (Hmmm) #S1 #HR1 #ForThePeople 5/

And federal power over elections, as explained by Justice Scalia, is broad. In 2013, he wrote that Congress’ power under the Elections Clause was “comprehensive” and included the power to adopt “a complete code for congressional elections” if it wanted. #S1 #HR1 #ForThePeople 6/