THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, July 4, 1995 TAG: 9507040425
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B5 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Medium: 79 lines
The ACLU of Virginia and a coalition of citizens' groups Monday sued Gov. George Allen over his refusal to implement the National Voter Registration Act.
The ``motor voter'' act would allow people to register to vote through the mail and at the Department of Motor Vehicles and welfare offices. Earlier this year, Allen vetoed a measure to enact the 1993 law and sued the federal government, saying the national act represents an unconstitutional unfunded mandate on states. Most states already have enacted the law.
Virginia is supposed to implement the motor voter law by Jan. 1, but the General Assembly is not scheduled to convene again until later in January. A successful lawsuit could force the General Assembly to meet in special session to consider motor voter legislation this year, said Kent Willis, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Virginia.
``We're hoping this will be resolved so that Virginia can do what everyone else except Gov. Allen wants to do, that is - comply with the law,'' said Elliot Mineberg, executive vice president and legal director for People for the American Way in Washington. The nonprofit group filed a companion lawsuit Monday to the one filed by the ACLU in U.S. District Court in Richmond.
The federal government has not yet responded to the suit Attorney General James S. Gilmore III filed on behalf of Allen in May. Mineberg and Willis said they expect the federal court to consider their lawsuits and Allen's suit as one case.
Allen spokeswoman Melissa Herring Dickie declined to comment on the lawsuit. Calls to Gilmore's office, which was closed Monday, were not immediately returned.
Motor voter proponents say the law makes voter registration more accessible to elderly, disabled and poor people. They say it also encourages voting among minorities, many of whom were discouraged from voting earlier this century by poll taxes and literacy tests.
``It opens up so many new places it in effect knocks down the old barriers,'' Willis said. ``It's sort of the logical next step in creating a more participatory democracy.''
Allen, a Republican, opposes most federal mandates because he believes Washington should stay out of state affairs. He also is suing the Environmental Protection Agency over the constitutionality of the federal Clean Air Act.
Virginia lags behind the national voting average with nearly 40 percent of eligible voters not registered, according to data from People for the American Way.
People for the American Way represented nearly a dozen citizen groups in Pennsylvania in a successful lawsuit against state officials over noncompliance with motor voter legislation. A Pennsylvania federal court now is overseeing how the state will comply with the law.
Most states were required to have the law in place by Jan. 1, 1995. But because Virginia had to change its constitution in order to implement the measure - voters approved the constitutional change in a November referendum - the state was given an additional year.
The ACLU of Virginia's suit was filed on behalf of the NAACP of Virginia and the Virginia Coalition for the Homeless, among other groups. Groups who endorsed the companion People for American Way suit include the League of Women Voters of Virginia and the American Asociation of University Women.
``These are not left-wing groups. They represent really mainstream Virginians,'' Mineberg said. ``Allen is out of step with Virginia on this one and is attempting to push a very, very right-wing view. '' by CNB