Council to Consider Postponing Bailout Process

A lack of support from a local civic association with a large minority constituency and the potential for a bureaucratic backlog at the Department of Justice have city leaders considering postponing further work on an application to exempt Fredericksburg from federal voting regulations mandated by the Voting Rights Act. The measure to postpone filing the application is as part of the consent agenda, a package of measures which are voted on as one. If approved, the application to "bail out" the city from federal voting oversight would not be submitted until after the city's redistricting process has been completed and implemented. 

The federal voting oversight, called "preclearance", requires that localities and states with a history of politically disenfranchising minorities to have all changes to local voting procedures reviewed by the Justice Department, a process which can take up to 60 days. Fredericksburg officials have argued that the preclearance requirements have stifled innovation in the city's elections office, hampered voter drives and cost the city money in staff time spent preparing the preclearance paperwork.

Two question and answer sessions held by the city on the preclearance bailout process in January and February  

Then on April 21, the Mayfield Civic Association voted not to endorse the city's pursuit of a preclearance bailout. In light of this, the Fredericksburg Electoral Board recommended at it's May meeting that the city suspend any action involving a preclearance bailout until after the redistricting process has been finished, approved by the Department of Justice and implemented.  

A memo distributed to the City Council in advance of Tuesday's meeting notes that the Department of Justice's Voting Rights Division is swamped with redistricting plan reviews from other preclearance localities around the country. The Department of Justice currently has data collected by city elections officials on race and politics in Fredericksburg, but city officials have yet to file a formal application to be bailed out of the preclearance requirements. 

"The DOJ is aware that the city is considering a bailout petition, and it would likely wait to review the before proceeding with the bailout application," reads the memo. "In looking at timelines, and in consideration of the stance of the Mayfield Civic Association, staff recommends suspended any further consideration of this issue and to declare the project deferred as far as the City Council's Goals and Initiatives are concerned."

Since 1982, cities have been able to opt out of the oversight requirements if they could show they had not attempted discriminatory electioneering in the past 10 years. In order to apply, officials have to submit information on voter turnout, the racial makeup of the city's elected leadership, and poll worker training to the Department of Justice for review. If granted, a locality is then under a 10 year probationary period. In that time, if the locality commits a single discriminatory voting violation, then the preclearance bailout is revoked. If after 10 years the locality has remained in good standing with the Department of Justice, the locality is free from the preclearance requirements.