GOP Knocks Va. Democrats' Registrations

By Tim Craig and Christian Davenport
Washington Post Staff Writers
Friday, October 24, 2008

RICHMOND -- Virginia Republicans opened up two fronts in the increasingly testy battle over the voting process Thursday by accusing Gov. Timothy M. Kaine of stacking the registration rolls with felons and raising concerns that county registrars were not allowing some members of the military who are serving overseas to vote.

With polls showing the presidential race tight in Virginia, Sen. John McCain's campaign and state Republicans are going on the offensive by accusing Democrats of threatening the integrity of the balloting process.

The GOP effort mirrors the acrimony nationwide about efforts by outside groups and Democratic Sen. Barack Obama's campaign to increase voter participation.

On Thursday, the McCain campaign accused Kaine (D), a co-chairman of Obama's campaign, of restoring voting rights for almost 1,500 felons in an effort to help Obama win Virginia's 13 electoral votes.

"This is a question of judgment," said Trey Walker, McCain's mid-Atlantic regional campaign manager. "Senator Obama and Governor Kaine have assembled a felonious coalition of attempted murderers, kidnappers, rapists, armed robbers and wife beaters in order to win Virginia. This dangerous lack of judgment has no place in the White House."

Delacey Skinner, Kaine's communications director, accused the McCain campaign of "desperation."

"It is absurd for the McCain campaign to suggest that the restoration-of-rights process is being used for political gain," Skinner said. "It is reprehensible that the campaign would imply that Democrats are criminals, or suggest that nonviolent offenders who have served their time and fulfilled the requirements to have their rights restored should be denied the opportunity to participate in this election."

In response to a Freedom of Information Act request from a GOP legislator, Kaine released the names this week of 1,484 felons whose voting rights were restored this year.

Under Virginia's constitution, people convicted of a felony automatically lose their right to vote, serve on a jury or own a gun. But a governor can restore those rights if he or she believes the felons have redeemed themselves.

Almost all of the people who had their rights restored by Kaine this year are nonviolent offenders who have not committed a new offense within the past three years. Kaine's predecessor, Mark R. Warner (D), restored the rights of about 3,500 nonviolent offenders.

Earlier in the month, GOP operatives pored through the names of the 729 Virginia felons whose rights were restored by Kaine in 2006. Of those, about three dozen have since committed new crimes, almost all of them misdemeanors, according to the GOP.

"The governor, in a wholesale manner, put these people back onto the voting rolls," said Del. William R. Janis (R-Goochland), who filed the FOIA request. "It is clear the Obama campaign, or their agents and representatives, is engaged in a systematic effort to put as many people as possible on the voting rolls who they think will vote for Barack Obama."

Secretary of the Commonwealth Katherine K. Hanley, who processed restoration-of-rights forms for Kaine, said the governor was following through on a process started by Warner to allow some nonviolent felons to regain their rights to make them better citizens.

Only Virginia and Kentucky require an act of the governor to restore voting rights to felons. The vast majority of states, including Maryland, automatically restore voting rights after a sentence is completed. "The governor doesn't have a crystal ball, and I am sure there are a few people who re-offended. But if they are felonies, they lose their right to vote again," Hanley said.

Hanley and Skinner also strongly disputed the McCain campaign's charge that the governor is only interested in getting more votes for Obama. Even if felons have their rights restored, they still must register to vote before going to the polls. And most of the applications processed by Kaine were for people seeking to restore their gun rights.

But Republicans allege that the Obama campaign is behind many of the applications received by Kaine this year. Kevin Griffis, an Obama spokesman, said that the charges are "just more dishonest and dishonorable attacks from a desperate, flailing campaign."

There also was controversy in Fairfax County after reports this month that inmates at the county detention center were being allowed to register to vote.

After being approached by a defense attorney, about two dozen inmates who had misdemeanor convictions or were awaiting trial were given forms and information last month on how to obtain absentee ballots, said Rokey W. Suleman II, Fairfax County's general registrar.

"I thought, 'If these guys are eligible to vote, let's get them registered,' " Suleman said. "I would have done the same thing if someone asked us to register folks in a nursing home."

James E. Hyland, chairman of the Fairfax County Republican Committee, said he is exploring whether Suleman violated state law by holding a voter registration drive in a non-public location.

As the fight over voting rights grows, Republicans are also crying foul over Suleman's decision to throw out 260 federal absentee ballots, which are often used by members of the military, on Election Day.

The Virginia Code requires anyone who uses the federal absentee ballot to have it signed by a witness, who also must provide his or her address if they have not previously applied to vote absentee. Online instructions for the ballot say a witness must submit an address, but the ballot doesn't expressly state that requirement, and many don't include it.

"I can't ignore the law," Suleman said. "Believe me, if I could get a lawyer to tell me to allow these votes, I'd love to."

At a news conference organized by the McCain campaign, Fairfax County Supervisor Pat S. Herrity (R-Springfield) urged Suleman to count the votes, saying the address restriction makes voting difficult for those serving abroad.

The local absentee ballots mailed out by various jurisdictions also require a witness's signature, but not the witness's address. And that, he said, creates an unfair double standard.

"The Fairfax County registrar is going to great lengths to register voters in the county jail. It is shameful he is going to even greater lengths to disenfranchise our men and women in uniform," said U.S. Rep. Tom Davis (R-Va.).

Jared Leopold, a spokesman for the Virginia Democratic Party, said Virginia Democrats are "committed to working with Republicans to make sure every vote is counted."