Law and Criminal Justice

April 1, 2008

RE: H.R. 281, the “Universal Right to Vote by Mail Act of 2007.”

Dear Chairman Brady and Ranking Member Ehlers:

We are writing to you to express the National Conference of State Legislatures' (NCSL) grave concerns about H.R. 281, the “Universal Right to Vote by Mail Act of 2007” introduced by Representative Susan Davis and scheduled for markup before the Committee this week. NCSL commends Representative Davis’ intentions to rectify the inequities in election administration; however, H.R. 281 would preempt state laws in nearly half of the states and create an unfunded federal mandate of unknown proportions. In addition, there have been insufficient hearings on the merits of this legislation and no analysis presented to the Committee on the different processes currently in existence in the states and the rationale behind these processes. Finally, H.R. 281 calls for an effective date of November, 2008 which is completely unworkable for states because legislative sessions for this year are winding up.

State lawmakers from across the country recognize the importance of absentee voting which is why all states have laws permitting this. Currently, 28 states allow no-excuse absentee voting by mail. The remainder of states have different processes that have been passed through the appropriate state legislative process. H.R. 281 would preempt state absentee voting laws in at least 22 states and the District of Columbia and force states to unravel one component of their election process that is not necessarily broken, dysfunctional, or an impediment to absentee voting. These states will be forced to overhaul their standards, protocols and policies in a very short period of time and with no appropriated federal dollars in place.

NCSL respectfully suggests that a markup of H.R. 281 is premature, that the Committee should first take the time to hold proper hearings on this bill and gain insight and research from the stakeholders before voting on a bill with this type of state impact. NCSL looks forward to working with the Committee to address voting by absentee ballots or other vote by mail options for states in future legislation.

Thank you for considering our views. Should you or your staff have additional questions regarding NCSL’s position, please contact Susan Parnas Frederick (202-624-3566, susan.frederick@ncsl.org) or Emily Taylor (202-624-3586, emily.taylor@ncsl.org) of the NCSL staff.

Sincerely,

Donna D. Stone Speaker Joe Hackney

Delaware House of Representatives North Carolina House of Representatives

President, NCSL President-Elect, NCSL

Cc: Tom Hicks

Gineen Beach

Keith Abouchar