Members of the Missouri General Assembly are seeking to enact legislation that would be a good first step toward nullifying unconstitutional federal interference in state and local elections.
House Bill No. 2052 (HB 2052) is sponsored by Representative Adam Schwadron (R-St. Charles), while House Bill No. 2140 (HB 2140) is sponsored by Representative Peggy McGaugh (R-Carrollton). If enacted, they would make several changes to Missouri’s election laws, including enacting the Missouri Elections Sovereignty Act, which would would ban federal election laws from being implemented for state and local elections.
These bills correctly note that “regulations placed by Congress on the times, places, and manner of holding elections for representatives and the times and manner of holding elections for senators are limited only to those respective offices and do not extend to state and local elections.”
The bills then declare:
Any differences in the regulations for time, place, and manner of holding elections for federal representatives, the time and manner for the senate elections, and state and local elections shall result in separate election procedures to ensure the sovereignty of the state of Missouri to conduct elections in the manner in which the general assembly shall deem necessary.
HB 2052 and HB 2140 are correct. Article I, Section 4, of the U.S. Constitution only allows Congress to regulate elections for the U.S. House and Senate. Furthermore, authority over elections nationwide is not an enumerated power granted to Congress in Article I, Section 8.
Furthermore, in The Federalist, No. 59, Alexander Hamilton refuted the notion that Article I, Section 4, contained a broad delegation of power to Congress:
Suppose an article had been introduced into the Constitution, empowering the United States to regulate the elections for the particular States, would any man have hesitated to condemn it, both as an unwarrantable transposition of power, and as a premeditated engine for the destruction of the State governments?
HB 2052 and HB 2140 could be stronger — for example, they should explicitly nullify every unconstitutional federal law, including the Motor Voter Act, Help America Vote Act, and the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act. Under Article VI, any law not “made in Pursuance” of the U.S. Constitution is not “the supreme Law of the Land.” State officials, who take an oath “to support this Constitution,” are duty-bound to nullify unconstitutional laws.
However, HB 2052 and HB 2140 are a great first step toward enforcing the Constitution and restoring the proper, constitutional balance of power between the states and the federal government. Contact your state representative and senator, and urge them to support this bill.
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