If you listen to The Washington Post (and why wouldn’t you?), objections to proposed changes to Virginia’s voter registration requirements are just a partisan tempest in a teapot. True, non-citizens and felons would no longer have to check boxes that would give away their ineligibility at a glance, but no problem, proponents say, pointing out they still need to sign next to fine print that they’re not disqualified from voting. . .
So what’s the big deal? After all, election officials appointed by Gov. Terry McAuliffe assure us the change will “simplify the process … to avoid rejecting otherwise eligible voters who simply overlook a box.”
What that means is not checking the boxes will no longer be considered a “material omission,” and grounds for rejecting an application. And before just accepting the excuse that a box on a form presents an insurmountable barrier for citizens who wish to vote, a bit of background information needs to be considered.
That’s because this past April, McAuliffe vetoed a bill that would have required making information available to registrars about individuals not qualified to serve as jurors due to reasons including not being a citizen, being a felon whose voting rights have not been restored, not being a Commonwealth resident or a resident of another jurisdiction, and being “adjudicated incapacitated.” His only explanation for doing so, without further elaboration, was that “additional study” needed to be done.
“Virginia governor Terry McAuliffe and his appointees to the Virginia State Board of Elections seem determined to ensure that felons and non-citizens can illegally register and vote in elections without getting caught,” a National Review Online dissection of these latest moves concludes. “Why are they doing this? Perhaps it has something to do with a recent report on the huge influx of immigrants into Virginia that appears to be turning the state blue, since a majority of foreign-born residents favor the Democratic party. The same is true for felons: Felons vote overwhelmingly for Democrats.”
And Democrats vote overwhelmingly for “gun control,” with semi-auto bans, registration schemes masked as “background checks,” and a ban on private sales all part of the party’s platform. That definitely places both the voter fraud issue and the “immigration” issue within the purview of what’s appropriate for “single issue” gun groups to consider in their candidate rankings and endorsements.
Still, say you’re a Democrat who thinks the McAuliffe voter rule change is a positive move to ensure no one who is eligible to vote is disenfranchised. Just to be consistent, then, is it safe to assume you also won’t worry about “immaterial omissions” in Section 11 of ATF Form 4473, because a purchaser still has to sign a certification? And you’ll be OK with the transfer being completed with no adverse actions against the FFL?