NVRA Section 6: Mail Voter Registration
Domain 3 covers Section 6, the mail channel built around the National Mail Voter Registration Form. The exam tests the 'accept and use' duty, limits on state-added requirements, and the interaction with HAVA's first-time mail registrant rule.
The federal form
The Election Assistance Commission, not the FEC since the 2002 HAVA transfer, develops and distributes the national form, which registers applicants for federal elections. It is published in multiple languages and is pre-addressed to state election offices.
State obligations
States must accept and use the federal form for federal elections and may not reject an otherwise complete application for lack of notarization or another formal acknowledgment. Nor may a state add information requirements beyond those the Act and the form's instructions prescribe. Mail applications must be processed like any other application.
Arizona v. Inter Tribal Council (2013)
The Supreme Court held that the 'accept and use' language, together with the Elections Clause, bars a state from demanding documentary proof of citizenship from federal-form applicants beyond what the form requires. Arizona's route was to petition the EAC, not to impose its own rule.
First-time mail registrants
Under HAVA §303, an applicant who registers by mail and has not previously voted in the jurisdiction must present ID - photo ID, or a document showing name and address - with the application or at the polls, or supply the documentation when voting by mail.
Worked example
A state enacts a law requiring federal-form applicants to appear in person within 10 days to 'verify' the application. Analysis: the requirement defeats the mail channel and adds a step the Act does not authorize, conflicting with the accept-and-use duty. A state may verify data it already holds; it may not convert a mail registration into an in-person one.
Traps
Assuming notarization may be required; assuming the federal form registers voters for all elections; confusing the EAC's form role with enforcement power; applying HAVA's ID rule to every registrant instead of first-time mail registrants.