Over the past several months, support has been growing to allow voter registration efforts at Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) facilities. In a reverse of policy, the VA will no longer ban voter registration drives for veterans living at federally operated nursing homes, shelters for the homeless, and rehabilitation centers across the country. A week after this change, the House passed the Veterans Voter Support Act to legislatively protect such activity and to ensure that the VA allow voter registration drives by nonpartisan groups. However, the VA told a Senate committee that it opposes the legislation in its current form.

On Sept. 8, the VA announced a change in its voter registration regulations. "The Department will welcome state and local election officials and non-partisan groups to its hospitals and outpatient clinics to assist VA officials in registering voters at VA facilities. Such assistance, however, must be coordinated by those facilities in order to avoid disruptions to patient care." The VA did not, however, decide to designate VA facilities as voter registration agencies under Section 7 of the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA). Also known as the Motor Voter Act, Section 7 requires states to offer voter registration opportunities at all offices that provide public assistance. Given that the early September decision marked the third time in five months that the VA had revised its voter registration policy, many in Congress were skeptical and moved ahead with legislative action.

The new VA policy only covers in-patients and only requires that voter registration information be posted on the wall, rather than specifically allowing someone to directly ask veterans if they want to register to vote. The ability of third parties to assist in voter registration is left to the discretion of local VA officials with no precise criteria for approving or denying a request.

In the House, hearings were held on H.R. 6625, the Veterans Voter Support Act, sponsored by House Administration Committee Chair Robert Brady (D-PA). Subsequently, the House passed the legislation by voice vote on Sept. 17.

The bill would allow states to designate VA facilities as voter registration agencies and require those facilities to provide information about absentee ballots and to make sure that such ballots are available upon request. It also would allow nonpartisan organizations and election officials to enter VA property and provide veterans with information on registering.

On the House Floor, Rep. Chris Murphy (D-CT) made remarks in support of the measure, stating, "While the VA has acted wisely in withdrawing their directive, they still retain the ability to reinstate it at some future date. The VA's recent policy shifts on voting registration have been sudden and unpredictable, and there is precious little assurance that they will not undergo another change of heart."

The companion bill in the Senate, S. 3308, has yet to move out of the Senate Rules and Administration Committee. The committee held a hearing on the bill on Sept. 15. Witnesses included Paul Hutter from the VA Office of General Counsel; Paul Sullivan, Executive Director of Veterans for Common Sense; and Lisa Danetz, Senior Counsel at Demos.

Hutter stated clear opposition to the bill in his opening statement, specifically because the legislation allows a state to designate the VA as a voter registration agency under the NVRA. "This would establish a competing use for VA facility space beyond the needs of the veterans who rely on that facility for its primary mission."

Hutter continued, "Voter registration activities, particularly those that invite in the broader community, would be highly disruptive to the services offered, which are often of a very sensitive and personal nature. The additional traffic brought to the Vet Centers may also adversely impact the treatment of individual veterans and may discourage others from seeking services." Hutter was concerned that the proposed legislation could be read as requiring the VA to allow any nonpartisan group that wanted access, without giving the VA any discretion over the number or type of nonpartisan organizations that would be able to provide such services. "VA facilities are not the equivalent of public sidewalks or the courthouse steps," he noted, "and reasonable and viewpoint neutral restrictions on speech are lawful."

According to Hutter's testimony, the VA had only recruited 173 volunteers to register voters at its 1,400 facilities and has only registered 414 inpatients and outpatients, out of more than 5 million veterans who receive care at VA facilities.

Voting rights advocates said news that the VA has not substantially changed its policy further confirms that Congress should move forward with legislation. For example, members of the nonprofit organization Veterans for Peace were denied access to register voters at the Fort Miley medical center in San Francisco. According to an AlterNet article, "VA officials said Veterans for Peace members had to be screened and approved as volunteers, which included being tested for tuberculosis. That response by the VA prompted litigants who have sued the VA over the registration drives to return to court seeking an order to force the VA to allow those efforts."

Nonpartisan nonprofit organizations are skilled at increasing the number of Americans registered to vote, and veterans may benefit from such efforts. Despite the fact that the 2008 election is only weeks away, voting rights groups will likely continue to call for a federal law that will allow veterans to have access to voter registration opportunities at VA facilities. Ensuring that veterans can participate in the democratic process through access to voter registration should be standard policy.