Motor-Voter Bill Speeds Through House

The House, in another step toward enactment of a long-stifled Democratic agenda, passed legislation Thursday that would allow citizens to register to vote by mail or when they apply for driver’s licenses.

Brushing aside Republican objections that the legislation would open the door to widespread election fraud, the House approved the so-called motor-voter bill, 259 to 160, on a vote that ran almost straight down party lines.

The bill, which is expected to win easy passage in the Senate later this month and then get President Clinton’s signature, was almost identical to legislation vetoed by former President George Bush last year. Proponents hope it will increase voter participation by streamlining the registration process. Higher voter registration generally helps Democrats at election time.

“There are over 57 million American citizens eligible to vote who are not registered because of archaic procedures . . . that inhibit people from registering to vote,” Rep. Esteban E. Torres (D-Pico Rivera) said. “This bill will encourage participation in the electoral process.”

Republican opponents, however, countered that the bill could encourage participation in the electoral process by illegal immigrants and others not entitled to vote.

“I’m convinced it was named motor-voter after Zoe Baird’s chauffeur,” quipped Rep. Lamar Smith (R-Tex.), referring to Clinton’s first choice as attorney general-designate who was forced to withdraw her nomination after it was revealed that she had hired illegal immigrants to serve as a baby-sitter and driver.

“We don’t want to return to the ‘good ol’ days,’ when relatives long since dead rose from the grave and participated in our electoral process . . . but if passed, this legislation could lead to the most massive voting fraud in our nation’s history,” Minority Leader Robert H. Michel (R-Ill.) said shortly before the bill was passed.

The motor-voter legislation was one of several bills vetoed by Bush that members of the Democratic leadership in Congress revived and put on the fast track this year to demonstrate that a decade of legislative gridlock has ended now that their party controls the White House.

The bill would require states not already doing so to offer voter registration by mail and in person at motor vehicle bureaus, unemployment agencies and other offices providing social services. It would also prohibit states from removing a person’s name from a voter registration list for failing to vote.

The Republicans based their objections chiefly on the argument that the bill contained no provisions for verifying citizenship. “Zoe Baird’s chauffeur, who was here illegally, had a driver’s license from the state of Connecticut,” said Minority Whip Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.), arguing that the legislation would make it just as easy for him to obtain a voter registration card.

He and other Republicans also argued that Democrats who drafted the bill had a partisan motive in requiring states to offer voter registration at unemployment offices and other social service agencies: Those locations are likely to attract more potential Democratic voters than Republicans.

The Democrats angrily dismissed the claims, noting that the bill requires applicants to state that they are U.S. citizens and that answering falsely is a federal crime punishable by up to five years in prison.

Torres also called the comparison to the Baird situation “absolute hogwash” and accused the Republicans of resorting to “fear, innuendo and scare tactics” to camouflage what the Democrats believe is the real GOP objection to the bill.

“They know that the more people register to vote, the more it is going to hurt their party because most of those people are going to register as Democrats,” Torres said. However, he denied the Republican charges that the Democrats wrote the legislation to guarantee that outcome.

Voter Sign-Up Made Easy

The new proposal would reduce some of the obstacles in registering to vote:

ARGUMENTS AGAINST Critics say the bill is an invitation to election fraud, including illegal registration by aliens. While the bill increases penalties for such fraud, it would complicate enforcement for the states, they say.

ARGUMENTS FOR Proponents of the bill say it opens up the political process. They say states that already have “motor-voter” programs have seen no increase in fraud and there is no reason aliens would want to register to vote.

Source: Times wire services

Vote on Voter Registration Programs

Here is how the California delegation voted on a House bill to require voter registration programs at motor vehicle bureaus, other state agencies and through the mail: Democrats for--Becerra, Berman, Brown, Dellums, Dixon, Dooley, Edwards, Eshoo, Fazio, Filner, Hamburg, Harman, Lantos, Lehman, Martinez, Matsui, Miller, Mineta, Pelosi, Roybal-Allard, Schenk, Stark, Torres, Tucker, Waters, Waxman, Woolsey Republicans for--None Democrats against--Beilenson, Condit Republicans against--Baker, Calvert, Cox, Cunningham, Doolittle, Dornan, Dreier, Gallegly, Herger, Horn, Huffington, Hunter, Kim, Lewis, McCandless, McKeon, Moorhead, Packard, Pombo, Rohrabacher, Royce, Thomas