THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, April 7, 1996 TAG: 9604070070
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Medium: 54 lines
More than 6,000 Virginians have registered at sites other than registrars' offices since so-called motor-voter registration began a month ago.
Bruce Meadows, secretary of the State Board of Elections, said Friday that 31,857 people registered last month, compared with 25,686 in March two years ago, when there also were U.S. Senate and city council elections.
The elections board doesn't yet know how many of those registered through Department of Motor Vehicles or other agencies, he said.
The new law is called ``motor-voter'' because people may fill out applications at DMV and other state offices.
The applications are then sent to local registrars or to the State Board of Elections for processing.
Motor-voter went into effect March 6, over the objections of Gov. George F. Allen.
Allen vetoed proposed legislation last year, then sought to fight the national Motor Voter Act in the courts. He acquiesced after he lost the court challenge.
Allen thought the national legislation pre-empted states' rights. He also said mail registration would lead to increased voter fraud.
Virginia is a late-comer to the game, because it first had to amend its constitution to allow people to register by mail. Congress and President Clinton pushed through the Motor Voter Act in 1993.
According to the League of Women Voters and the NAACP, 11 million potential new voters have signed up nationwide since Jan. 1, 1995.
Generally, the legislation is supposed to help Democrats, because the new registration sites in social services offices tend to appeal to people more likely to support Democrats.
In the Richmond area, all registrars reported upturns.
In Chesterfield County, just outside Richmond, registrar Lawrence Haake said, ``We're drowning.'' He said his office has received about 900 applications, with about 500 of them by mail and 250 from DMV.
Normally, in the March period, the office would receive only 75 or 80, he said.
Haake noted that there has been a high turndown rate. Nineteen percent of the applications were denied because they weren't filled out properly, he said.
Currently, about 3 million Virginians are registered. Advocates of the motor-voter law believe it will add another 1 million to the voter rolls within five years.
KEYWORDS: VOTER REGISTRATION MOTOR-VOTER LAW VIRGINIA by CNB