Congress does have Constitutional Authority to regulate elections.

Republicans claim the voting bills are unconstitutional federal take-over of elections. Republicans claim to be constitutional conservatives. hmm.
But Congress does have Constitutional Authority to regulate elections. Republican talking points are false!

Jamelle Bouie, Opinion Columnist for the NY Times put together a fantastic explanation of the power of the Congress to provide regulations for elections on which a federal seat is on the ballot.

Link to his article which also has links in it is below. But I have pulled a few key points for quick review. [1]

Justice Antonin Scalia opinion in Arizona v. Inter Tribal Council of Arizona: The power of Congress over the ‘Times, Places and Manner’ of congressional elections ‘is paramount, and may be exercised at any time, and to any extent which it deems expedient; and so far as it is exercised, and no farther, the regulations effected supersede those of the State which are inconsistent therewith.’”

repeat: the regulations effected supersede those of the State which are inconsistent therewith

Alexander Hamilton Federalist 59

“Nothing can be more evident than that an exclusive power of regulating elections for the national government, in the hands of the State legislatures, would leave the existence of the Union entirely at their mercy. If the State legislatures were to be invested with an exclusive power of regulating these elections every period of making them would be a delicate crisis in the national situation, which might issue in a dissolution of the Union. Every government ought to contain in itself the means of its own preservation.”

The 15th Amendment to the Constitution 1870,

“The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude” and that “The Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.”

Enforcement Act of 1870

established criminal penalties for interfering with the right to vote,

Enforcement Act of 1871

created a system of federal oversight for congressional elections, were passed under the authority granted by the Elections Clause and the 15th Amendment.

Article 1, Section 4

“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 choosing Senators.”

[1] https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/21/opinion/constitution-voting-rights.html