The House, in an effort to get more Americans to take part in elections, has approved a bill to simplify and expand opportunities for voter registration.
The so-called motor-voter bill, passed on a 268-153 vote Tuesday, faces an almost certain veto, however, over Republican claims that the new procedures would allow widespread voter fraud.Rep. Bill Orton, D-Utah, voted for the measure and Rep. Jim Hansen, R-Utah, voted against it. Utah Democratic Rep. Wayne Owens did not vote on the bill.
The Senate passed the bill last month, and it now goes to the White House.
The measure would allow individuals to register to vote when they visit their state motor vehicle departments to get a new or renewed driver's license and allow voter registration by mail.
It also would require states to provide voter registration services at various government offices that deal with the public, such as welfare and employment offices.
As a safeguard against fraud, the bill requires that each applicant sign an oath under penalty of perjury that he or she is eligible to vote. Violation would be a federal offense.
Critics argued that the provisions against fraud were inadequate and that the bill was being pushed to deliberately provoke another veto from President Bush. They also complained that the bill would impose new requirements on the states without providing funds to pay for the services.
But House Speaker Thomas Foley, D-Wash., expressed disbelief that President Bush could be opposed to the bill.
"This is a bill to enlarge participation by voters, something I thought everybody in the country would want to encourage. How the president of the United States can make an argument against expanding the opportunities of citizens to participate in their government is beyond me," Foley said at his daily news conference.
Foley suggested the "only possible reason" for Bush to veto the bill is that he believes "the fortunes of the Republican Party are better served by a restriction on people voting and reduction in turnout and participation than by the broadest participation of the American people."