FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CR THURSDAY, JULY 18, 1996 (202) 616-2765 TDD (202) 514-1888 VERMONT TO COMPLY NOW WITH MOTOR VOTER LAW UNDER AGREEMENT WITH THE JUSTICE DEPARTMENT WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The State of Vermont has agreed to begin complying with a law that simplifies voter registration, the Justice Department announced today. Under the National Voter Registration Act of 1993, also known as the Motor-Voter law, most states were required by January 1995, to provide voter registration for federal elections at motor vehicle offices and other state agencies as well as through the mail. Vermont, and two other states, were provided additional time to comply in order to amend their state constitutions to eliminate alleged inconsistencies with federal law. Vermont claimed it had until March 1999, but the Justice Department disagreed. Under the agreement, approved today by Judge J. Garvan Murtha of the U.S. District Court in Burlington, the State has agreed to substantially comply with the law by August 15, in time for the upcoming Presidential elections. "Millions of Americans already are benefitting from this common sense law; now residents of Vermont will be able to benefit as well," said Attorney General Janet Reno. Today's action enables the Justice Department to join a private suit filed by a group of voting rights advocates last year. That suit is settled by the agreement. Vermont previously required residents to take a voter's oath in person, and claimed that residents who mailed in registration forms without doing so would be skirting this requirement. Under the agreement, residents who have not taken the oath when they mail in their registration form will be able to take the oath in person on the day they vote. The Justice Department has successfully defended the constitutionality of the National Voter Registration Act in California, Illinois, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Michigan and South Carolina. Voting rights groups say that more than 11 million Americans have registered under the new procedures during the first year of the law. Vermont, which had already begun taking steps to comply, will launch a publicity campaign to inform residents about the new ways they can register to vote. # # # 96-348