Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/17pdf/16-980_f2q3.pdf
Page Number: 6

Cite as:  584 U. S. ____ (2018) 

3 

Opinion of the Court 

The  Act  also  prescribes  requirements  that  a  State  must 
meet  in  order  to  remove  a  name  on  change-of-residence 
grounds.  §§20507(b), (c), (d). 
  The  most  important  of  these  requirements  is  a  prior 
notice obligation.  Before the NVRA, some States removed 
registrants without giving any notice.  See J. Harris, Nat. 
Munic.  League,  Model Voter  Registration System  45  (rev. 
4th  ed.  1957).    The  NVRA  changed  that  by  providing  in 
§20507(d)(1)  that  a  State  may  not  remove  a  registrant’s 
name on change-of-residence grounds unless either (A) the  
registrant confirms in writing that he or she has moved or 
(B)  the  registrant  fails  to  return  a  preaddressed,  postage 
prepaid  “return  card”  containing  statutorily  prescribed 
content.    This  card  must  explain  what  a  registrant  who 
has not moved needs to do in order to stay on the rolls, i.e., 
either  return  the  card  or  vote  during  the  period  covering 
the  next  two  general  federal  elections.    §20507(d)(2)(A).  
And  for  the  benefit  of  those  who  have  moved,  the  card 
must  contain  “information  concerning  how  the  registrant 
can  continue  to  be  eligible  to  vote.”    §20507(d)(2)(B).    If 
the State does not send such a card or otherwise get writ-
ten  notice  that  the  person  has  moved,  it  may  not  remove 
the  registrant  on  change-of-residence  grounds. 
  See 
§20507(d)(1).2 
  While  the  NVRA  is  clear  about  the  need  to  send  a  “re-
turn  card”  (or  obtain  written  confirmation  of  a  move) 
before pruning a registrant’s name, no provision of federal 
law specifies the circumstances under which a return card 

—————— 

2 The principal dissent attaches a misleading label to this return card, 
calling it a “ ‘last chance’ notice.”  Post, at 6–7, 9–12 (opinion of BREYER, 
J.).    It  is  actually  no  such  thing.    Sending  back  the  notice  does  not 
represent  a  voter’s  “last  chance”  to  avoid  having  his  or  her  name 
stricken from the rolls.  Instead, such a voter has many more chances 
over a period of four years to avoid that result.  All that the voter must 
do  is  vote  in  any  election  during  that  time.    See  52  U. S. C. 
§20507(d)(1)(B).