Hank Silverberg, wtop.com
WASHINGTON – The arguments are far from over for a voter ID law now on the governor’s desk in Virginia.
Democrats are continuing to express concern about voter suppression and are urging Gov. Bob McDonnell to veto the bill passed this past session by the Virginia General Assembly.
“We’re making it harder for folks to vote, especially those who are perhaps frail or elderly or minorities,” says Senator Mark Herring, D-Loudoun. “It tends to have a disproportionate impact on them.”
The bill would require voters to show identification at the polls in order for their vote to count. Otherwise, they would have to go back to the registrar at a later date to prove who they are.
McDonnell tried to get a signature card check instead, which could be checked right at the polling place, but his amendment to the bill failed to make it through the General Assembly.
Appearing on CNN’s ‘State of the Union’ on Sunday, he repeated what he said on WTOP’s Ask the Governor program last week.
He’s taking time to review what did pass before a final decision.
“We’ve had a number of cases of voter fraud, most of them in the registration stage,” he says. “We want to show that we have good, clean elections.”
McDonnell says he is conferring with his attorney general and the Virginia State Board of Elections to see if the bill will work as passed.
He says that could take a couple of weeks. He must decide whether to approve or veto the bill by May 18.
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