Morse v. Republican Party of Va., 517 U.S. 186, 95 (1996)

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280

MORSE v. REPUBLICAN PARTY OF VA.

Thomas, J., dissenting

tion League v. Administrators of Tulane Ed. Fund, 500 U. S. 72, 84-85 (1991) (enforcing, in statutory construction case, a distinction based on a "mere technicality" because "Congress could rationally have made such a distinction").

Justice Stevens is right that "we have held that § 5 applies to cases like Whitley v. Williams, which involve candidacy requirements and qualifications." Presley v. Etowah County Comm'n, 502 U. S., at 502; see ante, at 206-207. However, those cases all involved qualifications for candidates running in either primary or general elections that are clearly within the scope of § 14. See 502 U. S., at 502. ("In Whitley v. Williams, there were changes in the requirements for independent candidates running in general elections"). See also NAACP v. Hampton County Election Comm'n, 470 U. S. 166 (1985) (change in filing deadline to run for school board in general election); Hadnott v. Amos, 394 U. S. 358 (1969) (change in filing deadline for general election); Dougherty County Bd. of Ed. v. White, 439 U. S. 32 (1978) (rule requiring school board members to take unpaid leave of absence while campaigning for office, where plaintiff ran in primary and general election). The cases holding that changes in the composition of the electorate are covered by § 5 likewise involve general elections. See Allen v. State Bd. of Elections, 393 U. S., at 550, 569 (change from district to at-large, general election). Thus, we had no occasion in any of these cases to question whether activity that occurs at a nominating convention, as opposed to a primary, special, or general election, falls under the Act's definition of "voting." Rather, the issue in these cases was whether the contested change had a sufficiently "direct relation to, or impact on, voting," Presley v. Etowah County Comm'n, supra, at 506, so as to constitute a "practice or procedure with respect to voting" subject to preclearance under § 5. See, e. g., Allen v. State Bd. of Elections, supra, at 569 (holding that "the enactment in each of these cases constitutes a 'voting qualification or prerequisite to voting, or standard, practice,

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