The Congress has the authority to alter state rules for elections of Senators and Representatives (Article I section 4).
But Congress, the Executive Branch, and the Supreme Court have NO AUTHORITY WHATSOEVER over the methods State Legislatures use for the appointment of their Electors for President or Vice President.
Here is my conundrum:Article I, Section 4, Clause 1: The Times, Places and Manner of holding Elections for Senators and Representatives, shall be prescribed in each State by the Legislature thereof; but the Congress may at any time by Law make or alter such Regulations, except as to the Places of chusing Senators.The bolded part makes it seem that Congress can federalize its own elections if it wants, but it cannot change the places where Senate voting occurs.This, to me, implies two things:
This is a recipe for total chaos in our elections.
- States can still ban mail-in voting for Congress, as this is a "place of choosing Senators."
- Note that this clause "chusing Senators" predates the 17th amendment when Senators were chosen by state legislatures. I have not seen on-line Constitution text sites that highlight this clause as being changed by the 17th amendment.
- If this clause was not struck by the 17th amendment, then it bifurcates Congressional elections. This means that Congress can fully mandate how House elections take place, but not the place of voting for Senators.
- This will allow states to treat House and Senate elections as two distinct elections, each with their own ballots. House elections will follow Congressional procedures, and Senate elections will be split between Congressional and state requirements.
- I can see an extreme case where Congress approves mail-in voting with 7-day post-election windows to receive them FOR HOUSE ELECTIONS ONLY, while Senate elections can still be held at Election Day polling places only if state legislatures choose to do so.
- Presidential elections are outside the scope of Congressional authority given in Article I Section 4 Clause 1. Article II Section 1 Clause 3 still gives the states full control over the "manner" in which "each state shall appoint Electors."
- This means that we can see four separate elections on "election day," each with their own manners of occurring.
- Presidential elections under complete control of the states.
- Senate elections where the manner is under the control of Congress, but the place of holding the voting is under state control.
- House elections where Congress has full control over the manner of holding the election.
- State office elections, under full control of the states.
-PJ