Washington Post (Virginia)
By Laura Vozella
July 28, 2015
Hundreds
of people flocked to a state election board meeting Tuesday to object
to changing voter registration rules to make questions about citizenship
and criminal history
optional.
Critics
said the change would make it easier for felons and illegal immigrants
to vote, although those in favor said those concerns were overblown.
“We’re
opening up huge, huge doors for opportunity for fraud,” said Charlie
Judd, who was chairman of the Virginia State Board of Elections during
the term of Gov. Robert
F. McDonnell (R).
The
board is considering allowing people registering to vote to skip
several questions on the application, including those asking whether
those registering are U.S. citizens
or felons whose voting rights have not been restored. They would still
have to affirm, by signing the form, that they are citizens and
otherwise eligible.
Currently,
registrars can reject would-be voters if they do not check boxes to
indicate their citizenship and felon status. The Department of Elections
staff has proposed
making responses to those individual questions optional, saying it
would simplify the registration form. Elections officials said the
change would mean they would not have to reject applications simply
because someone forgets to check a box or two.
The
proposal was met Tuesday with nearly universal skepticism — from
registrars and elections officials with practical concerns, and from
politicians and ordinary Virginians
with big-picture worries that play into the nation’s fiercest political
debates.
Illegal
immigration, voter fraud and the restoration of felons’ right to vote —
even the usurpation of legislative power by an overbearing executive
branch — all loomed
large over an hour-long hearing to discuss a seemingly arcane
administrative matter.
Republicans
suggested that the proposed change was Gov. Terry McAuliffe’s way of
inflating Democratic voter rolls ahead of the 2016 presidential
election. McAuliffe (D)
has kept a low profile on the issue, with his spokesman directing
questions to the Department of Elections.
Some
Democrats said concerns over the proposed change were overblown and
rooted in what they described as a broad GOP voter-suppression strategy.
“The
real threat to the integrity of our elections is politicians who throw
up more barriers to voting,” Anna Scholl, executive director of
ProgressVA, said in a statement.
“It’s disgusting any politician would throw around wild and unfounded
accusations to hide their true motivation: opposition to any proposal to
make it easier for every eligible Virginia voter to cast a ballot.”
Scholl was one of just a handful of people to testify in favor of the change.
Some
of the speakers, including Fairfax County Electoral Board Chairman
Stephen M. Hunt, wanted to resolve a puzzling inconsistency: The new
form says the application
can be rejected if the applicant does not answer certain questions
marked with an asterisk. Those include the citizenship and felony
questions, which would, in fact, become optional.
“That doesn’t make sense,’” he said. “It gives a false message.”
Greg Riddlemoser, registrar for Stafford County, said: “I would ask you to throw this whole thing away.”
The board could take action on the proposal as early as September.
The
public hearing took place at a suburban Richmond hotel, where
registrars and elections staff from across the state had gathered for
their annual convention. Hundreds
more were drawn there by state Sen. Thomas A. Garrett Jr.
(R-Buckingham) and Republican state Senate candidate Amanda Chase, who
is seeking to represent an area on the outskirts of Richmond.
For more information, go to: www.beverlyhillsimmigrationlaw.com
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