By Chelyen Davis
RICHMOND—The House of Delegates will vote Wednesday on a bill that supporters say will curb voter fraud and opponents say is discrimination that harks back to the days of poll taxes and tests.
The bill, from Del. Mark Cole, R–Spotsylvania, says that a voter who shows up to the poll without identification can swear an oath as to his identity and vote a provisional ballot, which would be counted later.
Current law allows voters without ID to vote official ballots.
Cole says his bill is intended to make sure voters are who they say they are.
“It is not targeted at any group and should not suppress anyone’s right to vote,” Cole said on the House floor as the bill was being debated. “I think this legislation is needed to ensure the integrity of elections and it does not deny anyone their constitutional right to vote.”
Supporters of the bill said it doesn’t stop anyone from voting—it just makes each voter prove his or her identity, if that identity is questioned in the first place. Provisional ballots, they said, are still ballots.
But Democrats say the bill and others like it are offensively discriminatory, and that it is too reminiscent of the days when nonwhites were essentially unable to vote.
At a rally in Capitol Square on Tuesday morning, about 300 people chanted “Don’t block the vote” and cheered speeches on the issue.
“Wake up. The suppressors are at it again,” said Del. Charniele Herring, D–Alexandria, said. “This is serious. Don’t take us back.”
The Democrats said Cole’s bill and others are a “solution in search of a problem,” and that they would discourage the elderly, minorities and others from voting.
Former NAACP Chairman Benjamin Chavis called GOP efforts to require voters to bring photo identification with them to polling places voter suppression.
Chavis called them “arrogant bills by arrogant politicians” and asked, “What sort of delegate, what kind of delegate would lynch democracy?”
Sen. Don McEachin, D–Richmond said: “These bills don’t recognize color. They recognize class; they discriminate against the elderly; they discriminate against those who live in the margins.”
Democrats said voters who have to vote provisional ballots will almost certainly have to travel a second time to the central precinct where those votes are counted, in order to prove their identities. That could be a hardship, they said, and will serve to discourage voting.
A Senate version of Cole’s bill, from Sen. Steve Martin, R–Chesterfield, would allow voters to fax in proof of identity to have their provisional ballots counted, but would remove the state voter registration card from the list of documents that might prove a person’s identification. The measure passed committee Tuesday.
Democrats urged Republicans to provide evidence that voter fraud is a frequent problem, while Republicans questioned what evidence Democrats had to prove that the elderly or minorities are less likely to carry ID.
“If one person commits voter fraud in the commonwealth of Virginia, he disenfranchises all of us who have voted legally,” said Del. Jackson Miller, R–Prince William.
In a news conference after the House voted 66–28 to advance the bill, Herring said she believes the supporters of the bill have ulterior motives.
“The only thing I can think they have [as] motivation is the upcoming presidential election,” Herring said. ‘They’re trying to have a strategy to prevent people from going to the polls in November. It’s not logical that someone would want to stop that, unless there’s a gain.”
Chelyen Davis: 804/343-2245
cdavis@freelancestar.com
