Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, July 7, 1995 TAG: 9507070056
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MARGARET EDDS STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Medium
The 1993 National Voter Registration Act, which has been denounced by Republican Gov. George Allen, requires states nationwide to open departments of motor vehicles and welfare offices to registrants, and to allow registration by mail.
Thursday's filing in U.S. District Court in Richmond counters a pending lawsuit, filed in May, in which state officials argue that the motor voter law is unconstitutional.
This spring, Allen also vetoed legislation bringing Virginia under the act. He argued that the law amounted to an unfunded mandate from the federal government and would open the door to voter fraud.
In announcing the Justice Department action, Deval L. Patrick, the assistant attorney general for civil rights, said the Clinton administration ``cannot understand why any elected official would stand in the way of making it easier to register to vote.''
``This is a common-sense law that makes it easier for all Americans to participate in the democratic process,'' Attorney General Janet Reno said in a statement.
Mark Miner, a spokesman for Virginia Attorney General James S. Gilmore III, disagreed.
``We don't agree with the federal government shoving unfunded mandates down our throats,'' Miner said. The requirements will cost Virginia ``excessive amounts of money,'' while requiring state workers to perform tasks other than those for which they were hired, he said.
Miner said Gilmore would have no comment on the specifics of the lawsuit until the filing has been reviewed.
While most states were required to comply with the motor voter law by Jan. 1, 1995, Virginia was granted a year's extension in order to amend the state Constitution. According to the federal government, the state is supposed to implement the law by next January.
Virginia is the sixth state sued by the Justice Department to force compliance. Like the five others - Illinois, California, Pennsylvania, South Carolina and Michigan - it has a Republican governor.
U.S. district courts in Illinois, California and Pennsylvania upheld the constitutionality of the motor voter law and ordered officials to comply. Pennsylvania did not appeal the decision, and Illinois lost an appeal to the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals. California has been ordered by the 9th Circuit to comply while an appeal is pending. No decisions have been issued in South Carolina or Virginia.
Federal officials say that nearly 2 million citizens have registered since the law went into effect in most of the nation in January.
Earlier this week, the ACLU of Virginia and a coalition of citizens' groups filed suit against Allen in an attempt to force state compliance.
Allen had no response to Thursday's action. A spokesman referred reporters to Allen's statement when he vetoed legislation in the spring. In that statement, Allen argued that ``registering to vote in Virginia is not difficult under our current laws. But vote fraud will be easier to perpetrate under this legislation which Congress has sought to force on Virginia and her sister states.''
by CNB