On June 22, the U.S. Supreme Court released its opinion in Northwest Austin Municipal Utility District Number One v Holder, 08-322. The issue had appeared to be whether Section 5 of the federal Voting Rights Act is constitutional. Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act requires certain states, and also parts of certain other states, to get permission from the Voting Rights Section of the U.S. Justice Department before changing election laws or practices.

However, a subsidiary issue lurking in the case was whether a small part of a covered state was entitled to “opt out” of coverage. The Act has always permitted states to “opt out” (or, “bail out”). Most observers had read the Act to mean that a small utility district in a covered state, like the plaintiff in this case, is not free to use opt out.

To opt out, a state or a portion of a state must show that it has not been the subject of a complaint about its voting rights practices during the past 10 years.

The Court ruled that small parts of a state are free to try to use the “bail-out” procedure if they wish. Therefore, there was no need for the Court to simultaneously make a decision about whether Section 5 is constitutional. The vote was 8-1. Justice Clarence Thomas would have struck down Section 5. Here is the opinion, thanks to ElectionLawBlog.

Theresa Amato’s book, “Grand Illusion: the Myth of Voter Choice in a Two-Party Tyranny”, released this month, has received praise from both Congressman Ron Paul, and Pat Choate (Ross Perot’s running mate in 1996).

Congressman Paul wrote a letter on June 4, in which he said, “Theresa Amato has experienced the unfairness of our system like few others. Her new book is an important contribution that anyone serious about ballot access reform should read.”

Pat Choate reviewed the book on Amazon.com on June 16. He said, “This beautifully written, fast-paced, thoroughly-documented book brings a message about a vital problem – the corrupt two-party dominance of our democracy – that the American people urgently need to understand and correct…The Grant of the Pulitzer Prize or a National Book Award to Theresa Amato would be both appropriate and an assured way of putting this issue before the American people. The book merits either or both of those prizes.”

The June 21 Atlanta Journal-Constitution has this story on the impending decision of the U.S. Supreme Court on the constitutionality of part of the Voting Rights Act. That decision could come on June 22, and must come no later than June 29.

It is a sad commentary that Georgia’s Secretary of State can say that Georgia has no voting rights problems, when Georgia has kept all minor party candidates for U.S. House off the ballot in regularly-scheduled elections ever since 1943. Even the Libertarian Party, which is recognized as a qualified party for statewide office only, has never been allowed to place a candidate for U.S. House on the ballot in a regularly-scheduled election (the requirements for special elections are far easier, and a Libertarian once ran in a special election for US House).

Georgia also has a voting rights problem with its statewide ballot access laws. No statewide minor party or independent candidate petition has succeeded in Georgia since 2000.

Part of the reason that Secretary of State Karen Handel can say that Georgia has no voting rights problems is that the minor parties in Georgia have not been actively agitating about the problem.