Be Like New Hampshire: Do Nothing

Rep. Martin Quezada's Republic column (3/9/2013) arguing for continuing Voting Rights Act preclearance is disengenious and ungracious. Federal protections didn't gift Rep. Quezada an uncontested seat in the Arizona House, the citizens of Arizona did when they established the Independent Redistricting Commission. Rep. Quezada claims that Arizona could get out from under the preclearance requirement by changing its ways like New Hampshire recently did. Really? New Hampshire didn't do anything except point out to the federal government and courts that it was silly to apply the Voting Rights Act and preclearance to New Hampshire in the first place. The New Hampshire in question is ten tiny towns that are 98 pecent white. The biggest has a few thousand citizens and the smallest has nine. The sin that got them on the federal watch list was to have less than 50 percent voter turnout in the 1968 election, when a cold and fog enshrouded New Hampshire was going for Nixon anyway and a lot of the voters decided to stay home. Nothing's changed much in New Hamsphire since then except a lot of people (like Joe Arpaio) with better voting habits have moved there from Massachusetts.