Suit Filed Against Wilson for Barring U.S. Voting Act

A coalition of voting rights organizations, led by the American Civil Liberties Union, filed suit Thursday in a San Jose federal court against Gov. Pete Wilson and the directors of several state agencies for their failure to implement the National Voter Registration Act, which President Clinton signed into law last year.

In an executive order in August, Wilson directed state employees to hold off on participating in the so-called motor-voter program until the federal government provides funding for it. The class-action suit alleges that the governor’s order could deprive more than 1 million Californians--many of them poor and minorities--of an opportunity to vote.

The federal law, which takes effect Jan. 1, is intended to boost citizen participation in elections. It allows residents to register to vote when applying for or renewing a driver’s license or when applying for benefits.

Mark Rosenbaum of the ACLU said Wilson’s arguments that the measure is too costly for the state to bear is “hogwash,” adding that other state officials concluded that financial strains would be minimal.

“That executive order enacted by Gov. Wilson is smoking-gun evidence that it is the governor who will not play by the rules,” Rosenbaum said.

Some feel that California may not be able to make the Jan. 1 deadline for complying with the law, even if Wilson were to rescind his executive order.

Wilson said Thursday he has no intention of changing course. “I am very unhappy when any unfunded federal mandate is handed down by the federal government,” he said. “And I just don’t intend to pay that.”