Virginia Voting Law Changes Approved by Department of Justice
New voting law changes require voter identification.
Election 2012
A Fairfax County voting sign. Stock photo for Patch by Susan Larson, 2012.
Susan Larson
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On Monday, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) approved Virginia’s voting law changes for use in the November 6 election. Many are questioning why DOJ approved the changes.
Virginia has a long history of voter suppression. When the colonies declared independence from England, only land-owning, male citizens were allowed to vote. In 1851, the Constitution was amended to allow all white men to vote.
During Reconstruction, the people passed a new state constitution called the “Underwood” Constitution which allowed all freedmen to vote. This resulted in large numbers of African American men and low-income whites voting and the number of votes cast in Virginia exploded. The new participants changed the political landscape which led to a new political party called the “Readjuster” Party. This party focused on “readjusting” Virginia Civil War debts, but also on progressive principles such as creating a public school system and public services.
The idea of altering Virginia’s obligations with its creditors shocked Virginia’s former ruling establishment. They argued that this undermined Virginia’s “honor” and good name and they maintained that the government should not be in the business of educating children, that families could pay for children’s education if necessary. They also opposed African Americans participating in government.
In 1902, Virginia adopted a new constitution which was expressly intended to end voting by blacks and limit low-income whites. In order to vote, the constitution required payment of a poll tax and passing a literacy test. It also prohibited anyone convicted of a felony from voting. Future U.S. Senator Carter Glass declared the purpose was “to eliminate[e] every negro voter who can be gotten rid of, legally, without materially impairing the numerical strength of the white electorate." The convention even refused to allow ratification by voters (because blacks could vote) and it was simply adopted by the General Assembly.
In 1920, passage of the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and gave women the right to vote. In 1965, President Lyndon Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act into law, which abolished poll taxes and literacy tests. States with a history of voting discrimination were put under the control of federal courts. Virginia and Fairfax County are still under a judicial decree which requires federal approval for all changes involving voting, including district lines, polling places, polling hours and times to vote.
In 2008, the U.S. Supreme Court decided Crawford v. Marion County Electoral Board, a case that involved several Indiana nuns who were not allowed to vote because they did not have identification. Since then, many legislatures have passed laws restricting people’s right to vote unless they have identification.
Under the previous Virginia law, voting officials could require identification at the polls, but was it not required. If you did not have ID, you could sign an affidavit affirming your identity. It was a felony to lie. This year, the General Assembly passed legislation that requires all voters to present one of the following to vote: a voter registration card, social security card, a valid Virginia driver's license or government ID, valid Virginia student ID, employer photo ID, utility bill, bank statement, government check or paycheck that shows the voters name and address. DOJ has blocked voter identification changes in several southern states, but cleared Virginia’s voting law changes this week, probably because our law allowed a broader number of documents to establish identity.
While I do not agree with these restrictions, they are now law. Please make sure everyone in your household knows the requirements.
Also, all please consider absentee voting to make sure your vote is counted. If you work outside Fairfax County (e.g., in Alexandria, the District of Columbia or Maryland), plan on going outside Fairfax County on Election Day or have problems standing in line, you can vote early by mail or in-person at the Mount Vernon Government Center starting on October 17. Voting early avoids long Election Day lines and also ensures that if there are problems with your registration or paperwork, you can catch and clear them up early.
If you have any questions or want to discuss getting your right to vote restored, please call my office. It is an honor to serve as your delegate.
John Farrell
9:42 am on Thursday, August 23, 2012
Almost every Fairfax voter can vote in-person absentee. There 19 different reasons.
If your work day and commute take up 11 hours or more, EVEN IF YOU NEVER LEAVE FAIRFAX, you can vote absentee. Check Box 1E on the Absentee Ballot application form.
In-person absentee voting starts at the Government Center, near Fair Oaks Mall, on 9/21.
In-person absentee voting at the Mount Vernon Government Center starts on 10/17.
Kevin Lewis
1:12 pm on Thursday, August 23, 2012
At the end of your article, you make reference to "getting your right to vote restored". How would one know if they need to get their right to vote restored?
John Farrell
1:59 pm on Thursday, August 23, 2012
Unlike 48 other states, when someone is convicted of a felony, like reckless driving or graffiti that costs more than $1,000 to remove, they lose the right to vote for THE REST OF THEIR LIVES. This arrangement is one of the last vestiges of Jim Crow.
In order to vote, after a felony conviction in Va., the citizen must petition the Governor to "restore" their civil rights, including voting rights.
To his credit, Governor McDonald has restored more felon voting rights than his predecessors.
But Virginia citizens should have their rights restored automatically once they have finished serving their jail term, paid their fines and court costs and finished any probation. That's they way it is in 48 other states.
T Ailshire
7:38 am on Friday, August 24, 2012
What Mr. Surovell fails to mention here is that the governor ordered that an acceptable ID be mailed to EVERY REGISTERED VOTER in the commonwealth. Therefore, NO ONE who is registered to vote can legitimately say s/he has been disenfranchised; all will have ID.
I fully support these voter ID laws, and oppose "register at the polls" laws. I believe it equally as important to avoid a campaign sending a van to a day-laborer spot, a nursing home, an apartment complex, or anywhere that people gather, offering those people a ride to the polls, and providing them a "sample ballot" (already marked for their candidate(s), of course). These are people who WOULD NOT HAVE CHOSEN to vote, and who have likely not taken the time to become familiar with candidates or issues; the campaign counts on them to cast a piece of paper just like the "sample ballot". That is, in my opinion, a much greater voter fraud than the person who tries to vote as someone else which, as opponents are wont to illustrate, seldom happens.
John Farrell
7:48 am on Friday, August 24, 2012
There are no "register at the poll" laws in Virginia.
Lovely tinfoil hat,T Ailshire.
T Ailshire
9:27 am on Friday, August 24, 2012
I know that. Some pushed for them this year, and defeating it was one of the few things our legislature did right. My point followed from the fact that voters in Virginia are NOT disenfranchised.
If ad hominem attacks are all you can use, my perspective gains even more credence.
John Farrell
9:43 am on Friday, August 24, 2012
Which bill number was that?
You accuse others of voter fraud for helping their fellow citizens exercise their Constitutional right to vote and suggest those citizens haven't passed your personal literacy test to your satisfaction and therefore should be deprived of that Constitutional rights.
You're lucky such fundamentally anti-American proposals are only mocked and not identified for the totalitarian ravings they really are.
Kevin Lewis
12:40 pm on Friday, August 24, 2012
Here is my take. Voter fraud exists. Voting is, in my view, a privilege,a responsibility, and a sacred trust that must be protected. Any Virginian (and, for that fact, any American,) should want to protect it. Hence, producing a valid ID to properly validate who you are should be something that any responsibly-minded, law-abiding citizen should desire to do. Both of my parents were immigrants to America who later became citizens. My dad wanted to take his papers with him when he voted. If people regarded voting as a privilege, they would take better care to guard against actions that would remove this privilege.
John Farrell
2:19 pm on Friday, August 24, 2012
Kevin
For all practical purposes, voter impersonation doesn't exist. An exhaustive study of the entire country over the last decade found only 10 cases of attempted voter impersonation. We are a nation of 330 million people. Multiply that by the 10 years covered by the study and the odds of there being an incident of voter impersonation in any precinct is lower than you being hit by a meteor, while in the shower, listening to Buddy Holly.
Voting not a privilege. It is a Constitutional right for which many people have died, in this country, in my life time, to protect. Like our other rights, we can chose to exercise them or not, but no one should be allowed to take it away.
Today, in this country, one party is trying to take your right to vote away because they are afraid that if every citizen votes, they will lose. The same strategy was pursued in this Commonwealth and throughout the South between 1865 and 1965.
In 1902, Carter Glass and his cronies amended the the Virginia Constitution, without approval of the voters, to impose a poll tax and a literacy test because his policies could not survive a free and fair election. The next year the number of registered voters was cut in half, from 250,000 to 125,000. The disenfranchisement of felons was part of the same strategy.
Voter disenfranchisement is a real and present danger in this country and in this election.
JoeB90
5:30 pm on Friday, August 24, 2012
John ...Please give the EXACT reference to the exhaustive study of the entire country over the last decade. Who did the study, how was the study structured, how was it implemented. Please provide a link to the study results. I look forward to reading it.
Thanks
John Farrell
5:40 pm on Friday, August 24, 2012
News21, a Carnegie-Knight investigative reporting project, sent public information requests to all 50 states (though not all of them responded) and found 10 cases of alleged in-person voter fraud since 2000. Out of the 146 million registered voters in the U.S., that number represents one case of voter impersonation fraud for every 15 million potential voters. Of the 10 cases of voter fraud, five of them involved family members illegally voting on behalf of relatives.
http://votingrights.news21.com/article/election-fraud-explainer
Jody
11:58 pm on Tuesday, August 28, 2012
How many times was fraud committed and not discovered by the poll watchers or election board? No one is trying to take anyone's vote away. This is not 1902, We should all want to ensure that registered voters are who they say they are on election day.
John Farrell
1:15 am on Wednesday, August 29, 2012
read the study
voter impersonation doesn't happen.
voter id laws are all about disenfranchising people who don't vote for Republicans, period.
Jody
9:15 am on Wednesday, August 29, 2012
That's bull. Democrats will round up any breathing soul and hustle them to the polls-- ever heard of ACORN? With such polarization and close elections we need to make sure the our voting process is rock solid and the results are valid.
T Ailshire
3:23 pm on Wednesday, August 29, 2012
As will Republicans if they feel the need. Our voting processes should not be subject to such petty games.
John Farrell
4:49 pm on Wednesday, August 29, 2012
For the 46 years that I've been involved in election administration in 2 different states, "our voting process [has been] rock solid and the results were unquestionably valid."
That is until the Fairfax Electoral Board, State Board of Elections and General Assembly were all taken over by Republicans. Now, those three agencies have become part of a voter suppression machine worthy of Carter Glass.
Contrary to the scams of the convicted criminal James O'Keefe (who couldn't attend the RNC Tampa Covention because his probation officer wouldn't allow him to leave the state), Acorn's bad employment model did not result in any voter fraud. Their off-the-street day laborers ripped Acorn off by submitting voter registration forms for "MIckey Mouse" and the like because the workers were being paid by the piece. Nobody named "mickey mouse" was ever registered to vote because of Acorn. Good try, but don't let facts get in the way of the paranoia.
As for "rounding up" citizens and "hustling" them to the polls, if the citizens being "rounded up" aren't registered to vote by October 15, the driver will be just wasting his time and gas.
JoeB90
10:25 am on Tuesday, September 4, 2012
The ID requirements to take the SAT are stricter than the ones required to vote in Virginia. Are we going to start a campaign to say that the college bboard is a rascist organization trying to deny minority students access to college?
SAT ID Requiremnts:
- be issued by a governmental organization or the school which you currently attend
- be an original document — photocopied documents are not acceptable
- be valid and current — expired documents (bearing expiration dates that have passed) are not acceptable, no matter how recently they may have expired
- bear the test-taker's full name, in roman English characters, exactly as it appears on the Admission Ticket (if the name is too long to fit on the Admission Ticket, the name on the ID need only match the part that appears on the ticket).
- bear a recent recognizable photograph that clearly matches the test-taker
- be in good condition, with clearly legible text and a clearly visible photograph