Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, March 18, 1993 TAG: 9303180115
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: The Washington Post
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium
MOTOR VOTER BILL IN GEAR
The Senate on Wednesday approved legislation to ease the nation's voter-registration rules after filibustering by Republicans forced Democrats to abandon a hotly contested provision requiring registration at welfare and unemployment offices.While Democrats argued that the provision would encourage participation in elections by low-income or jobless people, Republicans argued publicly that it could lead to coercion by public officials and complained privately that it probably would lead to registration of more Democrats.
The long-stalled "motor voter" bill, which would require states to allow people to register by mail or when they apply for a driver's license, was approved 63-37, with five Republicans joining all Democrats in voting for the measure.
Virginia's senators split on party lines, with Republican John Warner opposing the bill and Democrat Charles Robb voting for it.
But Democrats, unable to end two weeks of delaying tactics by Republicans without acceding to some of their demands, had to drop requirements for registration at welfare and unemployment offices as the price for passing the bill and putting it on track for virtually certain enactment.
They also had to agree to make a "good-faith effort" to get the House, which has approved a similar bill, to drop registration by social-service offices, although they stopped short of agreeing to hold up final approval of the measure if the House balked.
As finally approved, the Senate bill made registration of voters at these offices optional rather than mandatory, although offices that serve disabled people would have to provide registration services. Under a Republican amendment, military recruiting offices also would have to register voters.
"I regret we had to make these changes, but it was necessary," Majority Leader George J. Mitchell, D-Maine, told the Senate after the vote, describing the result was "not the best possible legislation . . . but a very good bill."
At a news conference later, Mitchell described the GOP maneuver as "cruel" and said the opposition of most Republicans to the bill demonstrated an "abject acknowledgment that they don't have enough confidence in their candidates and message" to support a broadening of the electorate.
Republicans, who lack the votes to pass their own legislation but can stall Democratic initiatives if they hold ranks, had used the motor-voter bill to show the Democrats they must deal with them, especially on bills with a political impact.
"We showed we could win one," said Sen. Mitch McConnell, Ky., GOP floor manager for the bill. "Republicans were able to stick together . . . and make a difference when we did," added Sen. Don Nickles, Okla., a member of the Republican leadership.
While enough Republicans broke ranks to end an early filibuster against the bill, most of them returned to the fold Tuesday when Democrats stalled one vote short of the 60 necessary to impose cloture and force a vote. When it was clear to the Democrats that they would fail again Wednesday, they gave in.
The bill, which would take effect in 1995, would not prohibit more far-reaching easing of voter registration rules by states. More than half the states and the District of Columbia have imposed motor-voter or mail- registration procedures or both.