Fredericksburg, Virginia appears to be seeking a bailout from Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act.  The Free Lance Star article mentions a curious component to any bailout being discussed, namely that the bailout would impose post-bailout obligations on Fredericksburg. 

“Last night, several city residents asked for more involvement in the exemption process. Specifically, they wanted input in the written agreement that would eventually govern such an exemption, if it is granted.  Hebert explained that the agreement could be written to set up a process by which minorities would still be kept informed of future voting changes–things like precinct locations and registration hours–even though the federal government wouldn’t have to clear each change.”

This sort of provision has been used in previous bailouts and I will have an upcoming article on the questionable practice.  Simply, either a bailout happens, or it doesn’t.  Jurisdictions should not be saddled with ongoing reporting obligations that act as pseudo-Section 5 obligations.  The Supreme Court should be fully informed of this practice if it takes hold because it mitigates against the effectiveness of the bailouts.  You can’t call a 95% bailout a 100% bailout, or at least can’t pretend to the Supreme Court it is a 100% bailout.  A survey of Virginia jurisdictions is underway to ascertain which are seeking bailouts and whether any proposed agreements include provisions beyond the contours of the bailout statute.  

Jurisdictions should not go through the time and trouble to obtain a bailout and agree to the imposition of ongoing pseudo-preclearance obligations that the law does not require in the bailout statute.  To do otherwise fails to protect the interests of the jurisdiction.  It also creates a false impression to the Supreme Court in the forthcoming challenges to Section 5 that jurisdictions have obtained true bailouts, when they have agreed to provisions not in the statute.  Instead, jurisdictions like Fredericksburg should seek a bailout, period.  If they feel compelled to set up a notification system to alert the minority community about changes, then do so, but don’t include it as part of an agreement in a bailout decree when there is no obligation in the statute whatsoever to do so.    But neither Fredericksburg, nor any jurisdiction, should agree to a decree that includes provisions beyond what the law requires for a bailout.  Hopefully the Mayor and City Council will recognize that bailouts can be obtained without agreeing to extra-legal terms in the decree.