Opinion ID: 774302
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Frustration of Congressional Purposes and Objectives

Text: 59 Identity of ends does not end our analysis of preemption. Crosby v. National Foreign Trade Council, 530 U.S. 363, 380 n.14 (2000) (citing Wisconsin Dep't of Indus., Labor & Human Relations v. Gould, Inc., 475 U.S. 282, 286 (1986)). When the law of a State shares the same goal as federal law, federal law will preempt the State law if it interferes with the methods by which the federal statute was designed to reach this goal. International Paper Co. v. Ouellette, 479 U.S. 481, 494 (1987). See also Geier v. American Honda Motor Co., 529 U.S. 861, 881-82 (2000). A common end will not neutralize conflicting means. Crosby, 530 U.S. at 380. Therefore, to survive preemption analysis State law must not actually conflict with the means Congress chose to effect its purpose. Hines, 312 U.S. at 67 (stating that federal law preempts State law when the latter stands as an obstacle to the . . . execution of the full purposes and objectives of Congress). 60 The plaintiffs argue that the Early Voting Statutes conflict with federal law because they interfere with the method Congress chose to ensure the integrity of elections. In the plaintiffs' view, that the TEVS make voting more convenient and accessible and contain their own safeguards against fraud has no relevance to the preemption analysis. Instead, because Congress settled upon declaring a single uniform day for voting as a method for preventing election fraud, the TEVS must adhere to the congressionally chosen method. 61 We reject the plaintiffs' argument for two reasons. First, the legislative history suggests that Congress established a uniform federal election day to fulfill multiple objectives. Specifically, Congress sought to prevent early elections in one State from influencing those in States voting later, to remove the burden of voting in multiple elections in a single year, and to minimize the opportunity for voters to cast ballots in elections held in more than one State. Love, 90 F.3d at 1029;Busbee, 549 F. Supp. at 524. At most Congress has demonstrated concern for fraud only in the narrowest sense, that of voting in federal elections held in more than one State. In any event, Congress did not establish a federal election day solely for purposes of combating fraud, even in this limited sense. Accordingly, the day represents the means of accomplishing the combined objectives underlying enactment of the federal statutes, and the Early Voting Statutes do not stand as an obstacle to substantial achievement of these goals. 62 Second, under the plaintiffs' argument that Congress established a single day for voting to prevent election fraud, federal law would preempt all State statutes aimed at protecting against fraud in federal elections because limiting voting to that day itself would set the outer limits of the safeguards deemed necessary to achieving that goal. Just as the plaintiffs' position asks too much because it cannot in a principled fashion distinguish absentee voting, so too the plaintiffs cannot seriously contend that Congress intended the federal election statutes to preempt additional State measures designed to protect against fraud. We decline to accept an argument that would negate the ability of the States to guard against fraud in the exercise of the fundamental right of voting.