Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/17pdf/16-980_f2q3.pdf
Page Number: 43

16 

HUSTED v. A. PHILIP RANDOLPH INSTITUTE 

BREYER, J., dissenting 

the Help America Vote Act, §303.  See §303(a)(4), 116 Stat. 
1708, 52 U. S. C. §21083(a)(4).  That provision once again 
reaffirms  that  a  State’s  registration  list-maintenance 
program must “mak[e] a reasonable effort to remove regis-
trants who are ineligible to vote” and adds that “consistent 
with the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 . . . regis-
trants  who  have  not  responded  to  a  notice  and  who  have 
not  voted  in  2  consecutive  general  elections  for  Federal 
office  shall  be  removed  from  the  official  list  of  eligible 
voters, except that no registrant may be removed solely by 
reason  of  a  failure  to  vote.”    §21083(a)(4)(A)  (emphasis 
added). 
  The  majority  tries  to  make  much  of  the  word  “solely.”  
But  the  majority  makes  too  much  of  too  little.    For  one 
thing, the Registration Act’s Failure-to-Vote Clause under 
subsection (b) does not use the word “solely.”  And §303 of 
the  Help  America  Vote  Act  tells  us  to  interpret  its  lan-
guage  (which  includes  the  word  “solely”)  “consistent  with 
the”  Registration  Act.    §21083(a)(4)(A).    For  another,  the 
Help  America  Vote  Act  says  that  “nothing  in  this  [Act] 
may  be  construed  to  authorize  or  require  conduct  prohib- 
ited under [the National Voter Registration Act], or to su- 
persede,  restrict  or  limit  the  application  of  . . .  [t]he  Na-
tional Voter Registration Act.”  §21145(a)(4). 
  The  majority’s  view  of  the  statute  leaves  the  Registra-
tion  Act’s  Failure-to-Vote  Clause  with  nothing  to  do  in 
respect  to  change-of-address  programs.    Let  anyone  who 
doubts this read subsection (d) (while remaining aware of 
the  fact  that  it  requires  the  sending  of  a  confirmation 
notice)  and  ask  himself  or  herself:  What  else  is  there  for 
the Failure-to-Vote Clause to do?  The answer is nothing.  
Section  8(d) requires States  to  send  a confirmation  notice 
for  all  change-of-address  removals,  and,  in  the  majority’s 
view,  failing  to  respond  to  that  forwardable  notice  is  al-
ways  a  valid  cause  for  removal,  even  if  that  notice  was 
sent  by  reason  of  the  registrant’s  initial  failure  to  vote.