It's one of the last very few things over which states still have control. <snort>
That's certainly what the Obama administration thinks. <snort>
Article I, Section IV (known as the Elections Clause) of the Constitution states:
"The Times, Places and Manner of holding Elections for Senators and Representatives, shall be prescribed in each State by the Legislature thereof; but the Congress may at any time by Law make or alter such Regulations, except as to the Places of chusing Senators."
Congress can alter the states' control over things like setting a uniform date for federal elections (the Tuesday following the first Monday in November), and a few other things, like making sure state voting laws abide by the 14th (equal protection) and 15th (blacks can vote) Amendments.
States can create whatever rules they want for voter eligibility, including literacy tests, for example, as long as those rules don't discriminate against a protected group. Georgia has been under the thumb of the Justice Dept for years over some of its voting laws that blatantly discriminated against blacks. States redrawing voting districts to achieve a particular political voting result is an ongoing issue with regard to the Constitution and equal protection.
I think it was Texas back in the 1920s where the Democratic Party passed a law forbidding blacks from voting in the primaries. It was a law that was upheld by SCOTUS because the Texas Democratic Party was a private organization. But 9 years later that was overturned because primary elections have a national impact, especially when those primary elections are for national candidates.
But in local, state and federal elections, it's the states who call the shots, as long as those shots don't violate the 14th or 15th Amendmentd, the Voting Rights Act of 1965, or the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
