Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, March 20, 1992 TAG: 9203200453
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-10 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
At the urging of Lt. Gov. Don Beyer, the '92 General Assembly passed a bill that clears the way for the motor-voter concept. The next step is for officials at the state Board of Elections and DMV to sit down and work out a few details, mostly a matter of coordinating application forms. (The elections board, for instance, doesn't care what color your eyes are; the DMV does.)
The two agencies have agreed, however, that one-stop shopping for voting and driving privileges is a good idea; lawmakers have agreed now, too. So the battle for this most sensible change has, effectively, finally been won in Virginia.
State officials have moved in recent years to encourage voter registration by making the procedure simpler and more convenient. Even so, Virginia still ranks a dismal 42nd among the states in the number of citizens of voting-age population who are registered.
That ranking may be skewed a little by the state's sizable defense presence. (Military personnel are counted in the population base, but many choose not to vote here because they don't view Virginia as home.)
Nevertheless, Virginia clearly needs to do a better job registering voters. Since about 95 percent of Virginia's voting-age population comes in contact with DMV, the motor-voter concept should help. (One of the first things most newcomers to the state must do, for instance, is to change their vehicle registration. They're less likely to put off registering to vote if they can take care of that quickly and easily at the DMV.)
Indeed, while they're at it, state officials should be pursuing a host of opportunities for consolidating government-related business to which busy citizens must attend.
The goal of motor-voter registration is not, of course, merely to register voters, but to encourage participation in elections. In the 1988 presidential election, about 76 percent of Virginia's registered voters cast ballots. (Not bad, and far better than the 51 percent nationwide.) But participation in other important elections - including local ones - is often pitifully low.
It is notable, therefore, that voter turnout has significantly improved in most of the 27 states that have applied the motor-voter concept. (By 20 percent in North Carolina; by 25 percent in Minnesota.)
A motor-voter bill isn't a be-all, end-all. Virginia must take other steps to ensure more participatory government. Currently, for example, registrars close the books 30 days before an election. This practice doubtless cuts off many citizens who are prone to delay or who might be inspired by late-developing campaign events to register so they can have a say at the polls.
The Board of Elections is conducting a study to see if the deadline can be moved up and still allow time for legally mandated processing of new voters. In this computer age, it's hard to imagine it has to take 30 days to check for dotted i's, crossed t's and other registration requirements.
The elections board ought to move as rapidly as possible toward closing the lag time. Right now, it should be possible to close it to a few days at most before elections.
Finally, eh, about those details that have to be worked out with the DMV:
One is that those who register people to vote must be registered voters themselves. It seems that not all DMV employees are registered voters. Elections-board officials need to do a little missionary work within state agencies themselves.
by CNB