State agencies shirk their duties to register voters,
activists say
By Associated Press
Sep 13, 2004 - 08:04:06 am
PDT
PORTLAND -- Voting advocates once praised Oregon for becoming the first state to
implement the National Voter Registration Act, which requires state agencies,
such as motor vehicle departments or food stamp offices, to provide voter
registration forms and help filling them out.
Today, however, Oregon is
just in the middle of the pack in registering voters through state agencies, an
approach that catches people missed in other voter registration drives,
particularly the poor. Oregon implemented the law in 1995.
The Department
of Human Services, advocates say, has failed to live up to the demands of the
federal law.
"They are barely, if at all, complying with the letter of
the law, much less the spirit," Charles Sheketoff, executive director of the
Oregon Center for Public Policy, told The Oregonian newspaper.
John
Lindback, director of the state Elections Division, admits the state has slipped
away from its efforts to carry out the act.
But with the Oct. 12 deadline
for voter registration near, his staff is training state managers this month on
getting voter registration materials into the hands of clients.
The
training, Lindback said, is "long overdue."
On the other hand, he said,
"I don't think we've fallen significantly back in the pack" compared to other
states. "It's just a question of whether we have been as aggressive as we were
in the beginning."
Lindback, who has directed the Elections Division
since 2001, appears to be right about how Oregon compares to most states, but
that doesn't mean the record is a good one in the eyes of those advocating voter
registration.
Miles Rapoport, president of Demos, an advocacy group based
in New York, said that nationally, voter registration through human services
agencies under the federal act is about 6 percent of all registrations
nationwide, a showing he said was disappointing. In 2001-02, Oregon's was at 6.7
percent, according to a Federal Elections Commission report.
Rapoport
said states such as Nevada and South Dakota are in the 15 percent to 20 percent
range.
Rapoport praised Washington state, where, he said, the governor
put out the word in July to improve the state's performance under the federal
law. However, at that time, Washington faced time factors of its own with the
registration deadline nearing for a primary on Tuesday.
The federal law,
Rapoport said, states that "every agency covered should offer the applicant
energetic opportunity to register and vote, and to provide the same level of
assistance as it does with other forms."
Working through food stamp and
other family support offices, particularly, the law focuses on people who often
are missed by traditional registration drives. The number of poor people who
need to register or update their registration, Rapoport said, "is a continually
expanding pool."
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