ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, September 27, 1996 TAG: 9609270063
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
DATELINE: RICHMOND
SOURCE: Associated Press
MEMO: NOTE: Shorter version ran in Metro edition.
An organization representing disabled students filed a lawsuit Thursday accusing Virginia colleges of failing to comply with the national ``motor-voter'' law.
The lawsuit alleges that the state Board of Elections, under political pressure from Gov. George Allen's administration, refused to ensure that colleges are asking disabled students if they want to register to vote.
The National Coalition for Students with Disabilities Education and Legal Defense Fund filed the lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Alexandria. Defendants are Allen; Bruce Meadows, secretary of the elections board; and Gordon Davies, executive director of the State Council of Higher Education.
``If in fact some of our institutions are not providing these services, it would seem to me it's just that they aren't aware they should be,'' said Michael McDowell, spokesman for the higher education council.
Allen's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Meadows referred questions to the attorney general's office.
``We are aware of this complaint but have not seen it yet and will respond at the appropriate time,'' said Don Harrison, a spokesman for Attorney General Jim Gilmore.
Michael Beattie, a lawyer and executive director of the coalition, said the federal motor-voter act says disabled students applying for assistance from a public college's disability services office must be asked if they want to register to vote. The question can be asked verbally or in writing, he said.
``Putting a box on a form is pretty simple. I don't know why they don't want to do it,'' Beattie said in a telephone interview.
Beattie said the coalition learned last spring that Virginia colleges were not complying. He said the coalition raised the issue with education officials, who said compliance would begin in the fall semester.
However, he said a survey of the state's colleges found that disabled students still were not being asked if they wanted to vote. He said the elections board staff indicated that plans to comply were scuttled by political pressure from the Allen administration.
``There's a fear of how these students would vote if they are able to vote this fall,'' he said.
The coalition is asking the court to extend the Oct. 7 voter registration deadline and to order the state to comply with the law.
Allen has argued that the law is an unfunded mandate and that it will increase the possibility of voter fraud. The state balked at implementing the law, but finally did so March 6 after losing a court challenge.
The law requires the state to register voters at the Department of Motor Vehicles and a variety of other public offices.
Beattie said colleges in some other states also are not offering voter registration to disabled students.
But he said the coalition decided to sue Virginia because ``we were trying to pick a state that didn't just forget to do it, but a state that was willful in its violation of the statute.'' Virginia has a history of not wanting to comply with the act.''
The coalition, based in Fairfax, represents about 200 student groups across the country.
It is funded by private donations, Beattie said.
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