Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, June 13, 1995                   TAG: 9507060014
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                 LENGTH: Medium

U.S. SUES MICH. TO ENFORCE MOTOR-VOTER

Michigan is the fifth state sued by the federal government to obtain compliance with the National Voter Registration Act, which took effect Jan. 1.

In January, Michigan's legislature passed legislation to comply, but the same day, Gov. John Engler, a Republican, ordered some state agencies not to obey, the department said.

``It's completely unnecessary,'' John Truscott, a spokesman for Engler, said Monday. ``We pioneered motor-voter. This is just another unfunded mandate.''

Earlier this year, the department sued Illinois, California, Pennsylvania and South Carolina for defying the law enacted in 1993. Federal district courts in Illinois, California and Pennsylvania upheld the constitutionality of the law and ordered those states to obey it.

Pennsylvania decided not to appeal; Illinois lost an appeal to the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. California appealed but was ordered by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to comply while its appeal is pending. The district court has yet to rule in South Carolina.

All five states that defied the law have Republican governors. The law was enacted with solid Democratic support over considerable Republican opposition. Republicans in Congress objected that it would register more Democrats than Republicans. The governors also have objected to the cost of implementation.

Three states - Arkansas, Virginia and Vermont - were granted additional time to comply in order to amend their state constitutions. Minnesota, North Dakota, Wisconsin and Wyoming were exempt because they already had either no registration or registration on the same day as the election.