Today's Roanoke Times has a story by reporter Laurence Hammack on Jerry Kilgore's proposal to expand absentee voting. We don't know about you, but we truly didn't think we'd see the words "Kilgore" and "absentee voting" intentionally put together by the Kilgore campaign. What would not have surprised us, in contrast, was a new accusation by one of Jerry Kilgore's opponents or a new revelation by prosecutors looking into allegations of voter fraud in last May's disputed Gate City mayoral election. As you are undoubtedly aware, Jerry Kilgore's mother, Willie Mae, is under investigation for her actions in that election as Scott County registrar of voters.That Jerry Kilgore is now proposing to make it easier for Virginia voters to cast absentee ballots seems a bit "interesting," let's just say, given the charges leveled against his mother, which specifically center around absentee ballot abuses. According to the Roanoke Times article, which (ironically?) appears on Mother's Day:
After losing the Gate City mayor's race by just two votes last May, [Mark] Jenkins filed a legal challenge. He claimed that unqualified voters tainted the election, and that some candidates aggressively recruited absentee voters and encouraged people to lie about their reasons for not being able to vote in person.A three-judge panel invalidated the elections and appointed a new town council that in turn named Jenkins mayor.
According to Jenkins, part of the blame for last year's botched election lies with the Scott County voter registrar's office, which is run by Kilgore's mother, Willie Mae Kilgore.
Again, what's so "interesting" about Kilgore's absentee ballot proposal is the fact that questions about the Gate City mayoral race centered on this very question -- agressive use of absentee balloting by certain candidates, possibly aided and abetted by the Scott County voter registrar's office run by Jerry Kilgore's mother, Willie Mae. According to the Roanoke Times article, Mark Jenkins (a Republican, by the way) agree[s] with Jerry Kilgore that the state should encourage more voter participation," but "question[s] both the candidate's plan to accomplish that goal and the motives behind his proposal." In an e-mail to the Times, Jenkins writes:
I think the remarks to promote a more lax absentee voting system are a good way of blowing smoke in an attempt to appear that he sees nothing wrong" with last year's elections in Gate City.
For some recent historical perspective on expanding the right to vote, back in 1993 the National Voter Registration Act (aka "Motor Voter") was passed by Congress and signed into law by President Clinton. The vote was heavily partisan, with Democrats overwhelmingly supporting the bill and Republicans overwhelmingly opposing it. Previous to its passage in 1993, a similar bill had actually been vetoed by President George H.W. Bush ("Bush 41").
In general, Republicans have opposed "motor voter" registration because of fears -- real or imagined -- that making it easier for citizens to vote would disproportionately increase participation by traditionally Democratic groups -- Hispanics and African Americans, for instance. In 1995, former Virginia Republican governors Jim Gilmore and George Allen even attempted to challenge "motor voter" on constitutional grounds -- and lost.
So what changed? Is Kilgore a different type of Republican, now allying himself with the Virginia League of Women Voters and the Democratic Party on the issue? Or is this just a way to distract peoples' attention (the "blowing smoke" comment), on Mother's Day no less, from the possible voter fraud by Scott County voter registrar Willie Mae Kilgore in last year's fraud-tainted Gate City mayoral election? We don't know, but as we stated earlier, it's certainly "interesting" that such a proposal comes at this time, around Mother's Day, and possibly just a few months before criminal charges are issued in the Gate City case.