ROANOKE TIMES 

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

DATE: WEDNESDAY, October 4, 1995                   TAG: 9510040102
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A-12   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

OCT. 10 DEADLINE

IF YOU'RE not registered to vote, a crucial deadline is coming up. By next Tuesday you must register, or you won't be eligible to cast your ballot in the Nov. 10 elections.

We wish we could say otherwise.

We wish we could say that getting on the voter-registration lists in Virginia is as automatic as, say, getting on the personal-property tax rolls when you register your car.

But Virginia does not have a "motor voter" law - despite its approval by the General Assembly and by the electorate in a statewide referendum - because Gov. George Allen decided to have a spitting match with the federal government.

We wish we could say you can vote in Virginia without the hassle of registering at all. Or, failing that, by registering on the same day as the voting. Or, failing that, by registering up until the weekend before Election Day.

But Virginia closes its voter-registration books a full four weeks before an election because - well, the reasons are unclear. It's as if elections officials were still conducting business with quills instead of computers, and keeping in touch by horseback instead of telecommunications.

Nevertheless, local registrars and their assistants are generally pleasant folks. Give the registrar's office in your locality a call; someone there should be happy to tell you how you can most easily register. Though sometimes a tad inconvenient, registering to vote is not painful. And it will give you a voice in the selection of the next General Assembly; all 40 state Senate seats and all 100 House of Delegates seats are on the ballot.

In local government, many courthouse posts - treasurer, sheriff, commonwealth's attorney and the like - are up for election. In counties, some or all seats on the various boards of supervisors are on the ballot. In many places, voters will for the first time be electing school-board members.

If you're not registered, you can't vote. If you don't vote, you're in no position to put pressure on elected officials to do good things - like make voter-registration laws more user-friendly. 


 by CNB