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<p>Greetings,</p>
<p>Please find attached a PDF of the amicus brief as filed on behalf
of the Libertarian National Committee in <i>Husted v. A. Philip
Randolph Institute</i>, No. 16-980.</p>
<p>After the executive committee meeting addressing this matter, I
reviewed the draft brief and sent a lengthy list of comments and
corrections, including those I received from committee members, to
our counsel from Wilmer Hale. I also discussed these concerns with
counsel by telephone. I believe the changes the firm made to
address committee members' concerns are acceptable, although in
some cases I would have preferred different wording. I have
included detailed notes on several of those changes below, to
provide a sense of how the concerns raised were addressed in the
final draft. <br>
</p>
<p>I wanted to address one point in particular: the Wilmer team
thought it important to indicate that principled non-voting is not
the same as an anarchist's complete abstention from the process.
Therefore, although I had suggested replacing any mention of not
voting in "a single election cycle" with more general language
referencing "abstaining from the electoral process," the Wilmer
team tried to chart a middle path between those two options. I
agreed that was an appropriate strategy, since we are only arguing
for a constitutional right not to vote based upon the choices, or
lack thereof, in particular election cycles, and not necessarily
the constitutional right not to vote under any and all
circumstances. <br>
</p>
<p>I know that committee members were not pleased with how little
time the committee had to review and approve this brief. That is
understandable. It should not have happened. In the future, I will
make sure it doesn't. <br>
</p>
<p>Thank you and I hope this final draft meets your approval.<br>
</p>
<p>Sincerely,</p>
<pre class="moz-signature" cols="72">--
Oliver B. Hall
Special Counsel
Libertarian National Committee
617-953-0161</pre>
<p><br>
</p>
<p><u><b>Comments on Changes to Final Draft of Amicus Brief</b></u><br>
</p>
<p><font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif">Page 3, <font
face="Times New Roman, Times, serif">s</font>eco<font
face="Times New Roman, Times, serif">nd <font face="Times New
Roman, Times, serif">s</font>entence: "But the Ohio policy
at issue—a “use-it-or-lose<font face="Times New Roman, Times,
serif"> </font>it” rule whereby a registered voter is
deemed “inactive,”<font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif">
</font>commencing a process that can result in the<font
face="Times New Roman, Times, serif"> </font>voter being
purged from the voter rolls, because he or<font face="Times
New Roman, Times, serif"> </font>she did not vote during a
single election cycle—also<font face="Times New Roman, Times,
serif"> </font>raises serious constitutional concerns."</font></font></p>
<ul>
<li><font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif">In<font face="Times
New Roman, Times, serif"> the <font face="Times New Roman,
Times, serif">draft form, th<font face="Times New Roman,
Times, serif">is sentence <font face="Times New Roman,
Times, serif">stated that <font face="Times New
Roman, Times, serif">a voter could be <font
face="Times New Roman, Times, serif">purged "<font
face="Times New Roman, Times, serif">merely for
not vot<font face="Times New Roman, Times,
serif">ing <font face="Times New Roman,
Times, serif">in a single election cycle";
the addition of "commen<font face="Times New
Roman, Times, serif">c<font face="Times
New Roman, Times, serif">i<font
face="Times New Roman, Times, serif">ng
a pr<font face="Times New Roman,
Times, serif">ocess that can
result..." makes the<font
face="Times New Roman, Times,
serif"> sentence accurate, <font
face="Times New Roman, Times,
serif">even </font>though<font
face="Times New Roman, Times,
serif"> it still c<font
face="Times New Roman, Times,
serif">ontains the "single
election cyc<font face="Times
New Roman, Times, serif">le"
lang<font face="Times New
Roman, Times, serif">uage<br>
</font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></li>
</ul>
<p><font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif">Page 3, last paragraph<font
face="Times New Roman, Times, serif">: refer<font face="Times
New Roman, Times, serif">ence to "<font face="Times New
Roman, Times, serif">a </font>parti<font face="Times New
Roman, Times, serif">cula<font face="Times New Roman,
Times, serif">r election cycle"</font></font></font></font>
<font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif">was<font face="Times
New Roman, Times, serif"> changed to plur<font face="Times
New Roman, Times, serif">al, "particular election cycles"</font></font></font><br>
</font></p>
<p><font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif">Page 3, last full
sentence<font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif">: "Commencing
a process to remove voters from the rolls<font face="Times New
Roman, Times, serif"> </font>because they did not vote in a
single election cycle undermines<font face="Times New Roman,
Times, serif"> </font>voters’ ability to take this type of
political action,<font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif"> </font>penalizes
them for their acts of political expression,<font face="Times
New Roman, Times, serif"> </font>and is akin to forced
political activity."</font></font></p>
<ul>
<li><font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif">In the draft form,
this sentence simply began, "Removing voters from the rolls
because..."; again, as revised, this <font face="Times New
Roman, Times, serif">sentence is <font face="Times New
Roman, Times, serif">accurate, des<font face="Times New
Roman, Times, serif">pite containing the "single
election cycle" language</font></font></font></font></li>
</ul>
<p><font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif">Page 4<font
face="Times New Roman, Times, serif">,</font> first parag<font
face="Times New Roman, Times, serif">raph: the reference to
"particular election cycle" has been changed to the plural,
"partic<font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif">ular
election cycles"</font></font><br>
</font></p>
<p><font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif">Page 4<font
face="Times New Roman, Times, serif">, first parag<font
face="Times New Roman, Times, serif">raph: contains <font
face="Times New Roman, Times, serif">a<font face="Times
New Roman, Times, serif"> complete and</font> accurate
statement of ho<font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif">w
the statutory s<font face="Times New Roman, Times,
serif">cheme wor<font face="Times New Roman, Times,
serif">ks as applied, including th<font face="Times
New Roman, Times, serif">e steps of <font
face="Times New Roman, Times, serif">mailing a
notice, and then failing to vote in two
subsequent election cyc<font face="Times New
Roman, Times, serif">les</font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></p>
<p><font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif"><font face="Times New
Roman, Times, serif"><font face="Times New Roman, Times,
serif"><font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif"><font
face="Times New Roman, Times, serif"><font face="Times
New Roman, Times, serif"><font face="Times New Roman,
Times, serif"><font face="Times New Roman, Times,
serif"><font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif"><font
face="Times New Roman, Times, serif"><font
face="Times New Roman, Times, serif">Page
13, first full pa<font face="Times New
Roman, Times, serif">ragra<font
face="Times New Roman, Times, serif">ph<font
face="Times New Roman, Times, serif">:
<font face="Times New Roman, Times,
serif">the sentenc<font face="Times
New Roman, Times, serif">e
beginning, "Coercing them to
vote," now in<font face="Times New
Roman, Times, serif">cludes the
lang<font face="Times New Roman,
Times, serif">uage "if they
choose to abstain from the
electoral process"</font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font><br>
</p>
<pre class="moz-signature" cols="72">
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