Expert says NVRA 'blackout period' may be too broad and needs clearer limits
Loading...
Summary
Professor Morley told the committee the NVRA blackout period—currently keyed to federal primaries and general elections and interpreted as a 180-day restriction—can prevent officials from confirming voter rolls for much of the year and that Congress should clarify what 'removal' means.
Professor Morley told the House Administration Committee that Congress should clarify the NVRA's so-called "blackout period" and, in particular, what counts as a "removal" from the voter rolls.
"One of the issues... is clarifying what does 'removal' mean," Morley said, explaining that Congress intended to prevent last-minute removals that leave voters without notice or an opportunity to demonstrate eligibility. He said the current blackout framework, which treats primary and general federal elections separately and ties the restriction to a 180-day window for each, can mean that officials are legally prevented from running roll-confirmation programs for roughly half of each federal election year.
Morley framed those observations as a request for statutory clarity — for example, specifying the point at which a removal is executed and whether routine maintenance and confirmation outside a specified window should be permitted. He cautioned that the statutory goal was to protect voters from being removed without notice, not to prevent all eligibility verification.
The committee did not adopt legislative language during this exchange; Morley’s testimony outlined potential drafting options for lawmakers concerned about balancing roll integrity and voter notice.
