GOVERNOR'S VETO EXPLANATION (March 27, 1995)

In accordance with Article V, Section 6 of the Constitution of Virginia, I am vetoing this bill.

As was made clear during the legislative process, I was willing to accept legislation implementing the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 (the "federal Act") if the legislation made the key provisions subject to a delayed enactment clause that would allow the Commonwealth time to challenge the federal Act in court and pursue relief in Congress. Unfortunately, the majority would not agree to making the mail registration provision subject to that delayed enactment clause, and for that reason I offered an amendment at the Reconvened Session requiring a reenactment of this bill in the 1996 Regular Session of the General Assembly. The majority failed to adopt that amendment, so I am forced to veto the bill.

Contrary to what some supporters of this legislation have said, the primary issue is not the need to make registering to vote easier in Virginia, but the overriding need to protect the integrity of our electoral process.

Today in Virginia, under our current voting laws, local registrars are authorized to appoint assistant registrars, who may be private citizens or members of organizations, to set up voting registration stations in shopping malls, community centers, schools and other public facilities at convenient pre-announced times, such as on nights and weekends, to encourage and facilitate voter registration.

Additionally, any citizen who is disabled, infirm or faces some other physical difficulty visiting a registrar's office, may call their local registrar and receive an in-home visit so that they can register to vote.

Registering to vote in Virginia is not difficult under our current laws. But vote fraud will be easier to perpetrate under this legislation which Congress has sought to force on Virginia and our sister States. By not requiring the individual to register in person, it becomes extremely difficult, if not impossible, for local registrars to verify the applicant's age, citizenship, residency, even the applicant's identity. Additionally, the provision of the federal Act that would force Virginia to cease regular purging of voter rolls of those who have not voted for four years is also an encouragement to vote fraud, because it will facilitate the casting of votes in the names of persons who have long since moved.

There are other problems with the federal Act's impact on Virginia. The provisions of the federal Act requiring the registration of voters in welfare and unemployment offices and at the offices of the Department of Motor Vehicles represent an intrusion into the orderly workings of state government and an unconstitutional commandeering of state agencies for federally mandated purposes. Nonetheless, funds for implementation of these provisions have been included in the Commonwealth's budget with no objection from my Administration, and planning for implementation will proceed as a contingency. In the event our efforts to secure relief from the federal Act through litigation and/or federal legislation are unsuccessful, emergency legislation can be enacted in the 1996 Regular Session of the General Assembly, thereby eliminating any practical impact of temporary non-compliance with the federal unfunded mandate during litigation.

GOVERNOR'S RECOMMENDATION

1. Page 11, enrolled

strike

all of lines 5 through 26 containing enactment clauses 2 and 3

insert

2. That the provisions of this act shall not become effective unless reenacted by the 1996 Session of the General Assembly.