THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, April 19, 1996 TAG: 9604170135
SECTION: CHESAPEAKE CLIPPER PAGE: 02E EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ELIZABETH THIEL, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 71 lines
Nearly 1,400 Chesapeake citizens added their names to the voter rolls before last week's deadline for registering for the May 7 local election, the city voter registrar reported Tuesday.
That's an increase of nearly 40 percent over the number of new registrations for the last regular City Council elections in May 1994, said Registrar Virginia W. Garrett.
Garrett said about 115 people registered to vote by absentee ballot, an increase of about 35 percent over 1994.
The increase in voters wasn't all attributable to a sudden groundswell of interest in City Council elections; or even to the addition of School Board elections.
More likely, Garrett said, the rolls of registered voters have swelled because of a new federal law that allows people to register through the mail or while they're doing business at state government offices, such as the Department of Motor Vehicles.
The federal ``motor voter'' law, passed by Congress in 1993, was designed to force states to make it easier for people to register to vote. In the past, citizens who wanted to vote had to register in person with a sworn elections official.
The new law went into effect in Virginia in March.
The deadline for registering to vote in the May elections was April 8.
Garrett is hoping that the increase in registered voters will translate into higher numbers of people visiting the polls on election day.
This is a particularly important election because it's only the city's second School Board ballot. The first was held in December. Previously, board members were appointed by City Council.
Meanwhile, Garrett is encouraging people to continue registering now for the November elections for national offices.
She's placed mail-in registration cards at all the city's libraries, and in other city offices.
``I think people are starting to utilize the availability of this'' new law, Garrett said. ``And I'm delighted.''
But she cautions citizens who want to register by mail to fill out their forms completely, leaving no missing, vague or illegible information.
The number of registered voters may have been even higher this time, she said, if there hadn't been so many faulty cards. She and her assistants have been trying to track down the aspiring voters to get the information they need to complete their registrations.
``We are going to heroic lengths to pursue the information and get everybody registered,'' she said. ``But as the influx of cards increases, and I expect it will between now and November, I don't know that we'll have the manpower to continue doing that.''
Garrett said people who have questions about how to fill out the mail-in registration cards should ask a librarian or call the voter registrar's office. MEMO: Mail-in voter registration cards are available at each branch library in
Chesapeake; the main offices of the city treasurer and the commissioner
of the revenue at City Hall and satellite offices in South Norfolk and
Western Branch; the South Norfolk Health Center at 490 Liberty Street;
and the Northwest River Water Treatment Plant at 3550 South Battlefield
Blvd. Citizens also can register to vote at various state agencies,
including the Department of Motor Vehicles, the Health Department and
Social Services. For more information, call the Chesapeake Voter
Registrar's office, 547-6141.
KEYWORDS: VOTING VOTER REGISTRATION ELECTION
by CNB