Bills tightening voting ID laws advance, despite outcry

RICHMOND

Measures aimed at tightening Virginia's election laws cleared two key legislative hurdles Tuesday over the objections of opponents who called them thinly veiled attempts to suppress minority voting rights.

In both cases, the votes broke sharply along party lines, with the General Assembly's Republican majority supporting tighter election laws and the Democratic minority opposed.

In the House of Delegates, where Republicans have a super-majority, Del. Mark Cole's HB9 won preliminary approval on nearly a straight party-line vote, 66-28. The measure provides that voters who are unable to present an approved form of identification at the polls, such as a driver's license, would have to vote with a provisional ballot, which would not be counted unless and until the voter's identity is verified.

Under current law, a voter without identification is allowed to cast a regular ballot after affirming his or her identity in a sworn statement, subject to felony penalties for lying.

In the Senate, a bill similar to Cole's, Sen. Steve Martin's SB1, won committee approval on an 8-7 party-line vote and advanced to the floor, where the two parties are split 20-20 but Republican Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling is empowered to break ties.

Republican Gov. Bob McDonnell has not yet taken a position on the legislation.

A variety of bills to tighten voting and registration procedures await consideration by the Assembly. The measures are needed to prevent voter fraud and ensure fair election results, supporters say.

Cole, R-Spotsylvania County, told the House his bill "does not in any way deny anyone the right to vote. It is intended to protect the integrity of the election process."

Democrats countered that the bill addresses a problem that doesn't exist. There is no evidence of ineligible people voting, they said.

Several opponents said the measure is reminiscent of poll taxes, literacy tests and other vestiges of Virginia's history of repressing African American voting.

Del. Algie Howell, D-Norfolk, who is African American, recalled his father being required to answer questions such as this as a condition of voting in the 1940s: "How many bubbles are there in a bar of soap?"

Earlier Tuesday, several hundred people attended a Capitol Square rally where speakers lambasted the election bills.

It is no coincidence that such measures have been put forward this year, several speakers said - a year in which the nation's first African American president is running for re-election.

"We know that these voter-suppression activities are designed with a strategic purpose in mind," Richmond Mayor Dwight Jones said. "The fact that there is a brother in the White House is just unsettling to so many people."

U.S. Rep. Bobby Scott, D-3rd District, said Virginia voters are being targeted because the commonwealth will be a battleground state in the presidential election. "Whoever wins Virginia will be very well postured to carry the entire nation," said Scott, who represents Portsmouth and parts of Norfolk and the Peninsula.

The Rev. Benjamin Chavis, former executive director of the NAACP, said the bills are aimed at Americans' most fundamental right.

"Voting suppression is democracy suppression," Chavis said. "These are arrogant bills introduced by arrogant politicians."

At the conclusion of the rally, members of the Legislative Black Caucus led the crowd to the Capitol singing, "We Shall Overcome."

Also Tuesday, another of the measures under fire by voting-rights advocates began advancing through the House. Del. Danny Marshall's bill, HB569, would require proof of citizenship - such as a birth certificate or passport - as a condition of registering to vote.

The measure drew the support of a tea party group and opposition from several organizations including the League of Women Voters and the ACLU, which see it as unnecessary.

"I do not want this intrusion into my life," said Rebecca Jaramillo of Protect Virginia's Vote. "Who are these illegal immigrants who are trying to vote and destroy America? They aren't doing it."

Marshall's bill was approved on a 4-2 party-line vote by a Republican-controlled House subcommittee.

Bill Sizemore, 804-697-1560, bill.sizemore@pilotonline.com