Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, January 3, 1995 TAG: 9501030014
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: RICK LINDQUIST STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG LENGTH: Long
Virginians voted in November to change the state constitution to permit registration by mail and to end the practice of removing voters from registration rolls if they have not voted in four years. These changes were necessary to bring the state into line with the national act.
The result, they say, could be thousands of new registered voters on the books whose names would be harder to purge and who could artificially expand voter rolls should they turn out to be nonvoters.
"I'm thrilled to death for people to register," said Montgomery County Voter Registrar Sandra Chapin.
At the same time, Chapin is one of several local election officials anxious about how the so-called "motor voter" law will play out in Virginia. "We're kinda holding our breath," she said.
In Oregon, a "motor voter" law helped swell registrations in that state by 150 percent. Some Virginia registrars believe this state has similar potential.
But, some also fear the new law - which lets people register while doing business at state agencies such as the Department of Motor Vehicles - might increase the number of improperly registered voters. The State Board of Elections has estimated 19,000 new registrations in Virginia each week through the motor vehicles offices alone.
However, the president of the Montgomery County League of Women Voters, Mary Swiger, said the prospect of more voters outweighs her concern over potential abuses. Statewide, approximately 3 million people are registered to vote, around 60 percent of those eligible.
Because the law makes it so easy to register, Chapin said, Montgomery County's voter rolls could double. The county now has around 29,700 registered voters, or less than half of eligible adults. The county has 61,000 potential voters, according to the census, although that includes college students who may be registered elsewhere.
"Paper's just going to be coming at us," she said, fretting about the anticipated workload on her already short-handed office.
Radford Voter Registrar Tracy Howard expects the number of voters in his university community to jump by at least 1,800 during the first year, a 33 percent increase.
Only 39 percent of the city's potential voters - 5,500 out of 14,000 - are now registered.
Howard recently worried aloud to City Council that some out-of-state students might try to take advantage of the new law to establish a Virginia voting residence as one step toward qualifying for lower, in-state tuition. Howard's recommendation to establish a uniform definition of voter residence, particularly in registering college students, is among a handful of "high profile" suggestions the General Assembly's Privileges and Elections committees will consider in drafting a state law.
Both Howard and Chapin say they don't want to single out students or keep them from registering, but do want to make sure they are registered properly.
While Virginia has a central, computerized voter database that can automatically shift a voter's registration from one community to another, Howard contends the proposed state law has few safeguards to prevent someone from being registered both in Virginia and outside the state.
The lack of face-to-face contact with every applicant, Howard and Chapin say, is a definite disadvantage of "motor voter," since there's no opportunity to explain the law or to answer a voter's questions. "It's hard enough doing it one-on-one," said Chapin. She and Howard also point out that registrars have the authority, within certain guidelines, to accept or refuse to add names sent to their offices and to follow up on questionable registrations.
However, Swiger is optimistic the General Assembly can iron out any potential problems in the "motor voter" act. The league strongly supported the national act, and implementing the act in Virginia is the state league's top priority, she said. Without a state "motor voter" law, local voter registrars would have face a "horrific problem" trying to keep different sets of books for federal and state elections, she explained. Swiger said the prospect of more voters outweighs her concern over potential abuses.
The implications of the "motor voter" law came in for some discussion at a recent statewide gathering of registrars in Fredericksburg, said Pulaski County Voter Registrar Phyllis Hanks, who is more concerned right now about the law's impact on her budget than on her voter books. Hanks said the law will mean a huge increase in postage and clerical costs for her office, but she's not troubled about abuses.
"I know it's a possibility," she said, but "maybe I trust people too much." Extrapolating from the formula Howard used to estimate the number of additional voters for Radford, Hanks said another 5,500 people could register to vote in Pulaski County after the law becomes effective. Currently the county has 16,641 registered voters, 62 percent of a possible 27,000 or so. "This [past] year was a really good year, and we only added 680," she noted.
Registrars are also concerned that their localities will have to pick up the extra costs of the new law.
Chapin expects her costs to go up by at least one-third and said she might have to ask the Board of Supervisors to authorize another full-time person as well as more office space. She and Howard also expect they'll need more voting machines, and Howard already has requested three more from City Council.
The law's potential for dire consequences could be overblown or unfounded, conceded Chapin, who said some of her staffers have accused her of crying wolf about "motor voter." Among the new law's benefits is elimination of the last-minute registration rush. "I can see this getting more people registered throughout the year," she said.
Hanks just hopes those new registrants follow through at the polls. "If they'll just come out and vote once they're registered and realize what an honor it is to vote."
Nadine Newcomb, past president of the Montgomery County League of Women Voters agrees. "There are so many people who do not vote that it is a disgrace to our democracy," she said.
by CNB