Voting Rights costs can be more than Lewis asserts

The court heard arguments in late February on Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act, which requires nine states, including Georgia, to get permission, or “preclearance,” from the federal government before implementing any changes affecting elections. The provision is being challenged by Shelby County, Ala., and also applies to parts of seven other states.

Opponents of the provision, including Georgia Attorney General Sam Olens, say the blatant racial intimidation and discrimination that existed in voting processes decades ago no longer exist. They also say the formula used to determine which states are covered under the statute is outdated. They also cite the high cost for adhering to Section 5 requirements when states or jurisdictions want to make changes to their elections processes. Georgia was one of several states that filed a “friend of the court” brief supporting the Shelby suit. The Justice Department has rejected election changes in Georgia nearly 180 times under Section 5.

U.S. Rep. John Lewis, a Democrat from Georgia and a civil rights pioneer, has been a crusader for keeping Section 5, and he made his case in an opinion column for The Washington Post a few days before the court arguments.

“Opponents of Section 5 complain of state expense, yet their only cost is the paper, postage and manpower required to send copies of legislation to the federal government for reviews, hardly a punishment,” Lewis wrote.

But what about legal fees? Did states not have these expenses, too? We wondered whether Lewis’ low-cost compliance analysis was correct.

Section 5 of the act, including the preclearance review requirement, was extended in 1970, 1975, 1982 and for 25 years in 2006.

Jurisdictions seeking a preclearance review have two options: a declaratory judgment process and an administrative review process.

The declaratory judgment process is court-intensive, requiring the jurisdiction to file a motion with the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. A three-judge panel hears the request. Any appeals go directly to the U.S. Supreme Court.

The administrative review process is designed to be an expeditious, cost-effective alternative. It requires jurisdictions to submit proposed voting changes to the Department of Justice for review. If the attorney general doesn’t object to the change, or if no objection is filed within 60 days, then the jurisdiction can implement the change. The DOJ reports that more than 99 percent of the changes affecting voting are reviewed administratively.

Administrative review documents can be filed by mail and online.

States choosing the declaratory judgment process first, or after a voting change was denied in the administrative process, can accrue large legal bills. For example, South Carolina spent $3.5 million last year challenging a DOJ rejection of its proposed voter ID law. After taking the case to court, the three-judge declaratory judgment panel ruled in January in the state’s favor and precleared the law for 2013. The federal government was ordered to pay $54,000 of the state’s costs.

But several states covered in whole or part by Section 5 — California, Mississippi, New York, and North Carolina — support its constitutionality, and in a brief they filed in the Shelby case, they wrote that “its compliance burdens are minimal.”

Lewis’ office points out that the litigation costs associated with the declaratory judgment process are optional, unless a jurisdiction wants to challenge that decision through a lawsuit.

But Charles Bullock, a political science professor at the University of Georgia who has studied the impact of the Voting Rights Act in Georgia, said the administrative review may be simple and inexpensive for trivial changes, such as moving a polling place from a fire station to a school. With more complex changes, such as redistricting plans, though, even the administrative review can be complicated and carry indirect costs, he said.

Georgia spent hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal fees for outside attorneys — not including work done by internal office staff — for a federal judicial review of the state’s redistricting plan in 2001. In March 2002, the state Legislature passed a midyear budget that included $1.8 million for legal fees to defend the plan.

So does Lewis’ claim balance the scales of justice?

Lewis said that opponents of Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act, which requires certain jurisdictions to obtain preclearance from the federal government to implement elections changes, are wrong when they say adhering to the requirements can be expensive. Lewis says states only have to fund the paper, postage and manpower required for submitting the required documents.

For administrative reviews on minor issues, Lewis appears to be correct. The Justice Department provides an administrative process for preclearence submissions that is designed to cut litigation costs. And most of the states choose this option. But that option can be expensive. And there is also another more costly option for states that involves taking the case through the court system.

Lewis’ claim is partially accurate but leaves out important details about the second review method’s cost for more complex elections changes. For this missing information, we rated his claim Half True.