    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1993, Book I)]
    [May 20, 1993]
    [Pages 706-708]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks on Signing the National Voter Registration Act of 1993
    May 20, 1993

        Thank you very much. Joel, thank you for the T-shirt. In a few
    moments I'll give out bill-signing pens, but I'd rather have the T-
    shirt. [Laughter]
        Getting to know the young people across this country, beginning in
    New Hampshire, who pushed the motor voter bill, was one of the most
    rewarding parts of the 1992 campaign. But the effort that we come here
    to celebrate today has a long and venerable heritage.
        A few moments ago, you heard the voice of President Johnson crossing
    the chasm of time back to 1965 as he signed the Voting Rights Act into
    law. As a southerner and as President, his words have special
    significance to me. During my childhood, no family's dinner table, no
    church congregation, no community, and no place of work was immune from
    the searing struggle for civil rights. To hear Johnson's voice is to
    make vivid for me once again those difficult, yet glorious years of
    struggle, difficult and terrible because so many people gave their lives
    moving the stone of freedom up the side of a mountain, glorious because
    the years of contention eventually gave way to an overdue season of
    reconciliation and renewal, and gave our region and our country a second
    chance to fulfill our promise.
        The victory we celebrate today is but the most recent chapter in the
    overlapping struggles of our Nation's history to enfranchise women and
    minorities, the disabled, and the young with the power to affect their
    own destiny and our common destiny by participating fully in our
    democracy. When blacks and women won the right to vote, when we outlawed
    the poll tax and literacy test, when the voting age was lowered to 18,
    and when finally we recognized the rights of disabled Americans, it was
    because the forces of change overcame the indifference of the ma-

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    jority and the resistance by the guardians of the status quo. And who
    prevailed? Brave people working at the grassroots, impatient with an
    always imperfect democracy and dedicated to widening the circle of
    liberty to encompass more and more of our fellow citizens.
        I have said many times in many places that in this country we don't
    have a person to waste. Surely the beginning of honoring that pledge is
    making sure the franchise is extended to and used by every eligible
    American. Today we celebrate our noble tradition by signing into law our
    newest civil rights law, the National Voter Registration Act of 1993,
    which all of us know and love as ``motor voter.''
        An extraordinary coalition of organizations, many of whom played
    historic roles in our expanding democratic rights, joined many years ago
    with the hope that they would see this day come. I'm honored to share
    this podium with representatives with three fighters for freedom: the
    NAACP, the League of Women Voters, and Human Serve. I want to pay
    special tribute to Disabled and Able To Vote, to Project Vote, and to
    Rock the Vote, and literally, the scores of other groups for whom the
    goal of full voter participation has been a durable and lasting dream. I
    want to pay special tribute to the young people who lobbied me
    personally for motor voter and who voted with renewed energy and
    conviction for their own futures in the election last November.
        They all labored hard because this bill was necessary. As many as 35
    percent of otherwise eligible voters in our Nation are not registered,
    and the failure to register is the primary reason given by eligible
    citizens for their not voting. The principle behind this legislation is
    clear: Voting should be about discerning the will of the majority, not
    about testing the administrative capacity of a citizen.
        The State of Washington instituted a similar measure during the 1992
    election, and their motor voter program registered in that State alone
    an additional 186,000 people. Motor voter works at registering voters
    and people who register vote.
        With this law and its appropriate implementation by States, voters
    can register by applying for a driver's license, through uniform mail
    application, or by applying in person at various agencies designated by
    the States. As a result, registration for Federal election will become
    as accessible as possible, while the integrity of the electoral process
    is clearly preserved.
        As I said, I have long supported the idea of motor voter. More than
    a year ago, I promised as President that I would sign H.R. 2 and fight
    for its passage. I'm pleased to be able to keep the promise today that I
    made on this Rock the Vote card which still has my signature back in New
    Hampshire.
        I also want to point out that all the President does is lobby for
    and sign laws. If the Congress doesn't pass them, they don't get passed.
    The Rock the Vote card that I signed here says, ``Why don't politicians
    want you to vote?'' Well, there are a lot of Members of the Congress
    here from both parties who do want you to vote, and I want to thank not
    only those on the platform here but all of those out in the audience
    who, after all, passed this bill into law. It was their votes that made
    this day possible.
        This bill in its enactment is a sign of a new vibrancy in our
    democracy. With all the challenges and difficulties, with the years of
    accumulated economic problems we face, with all the divisions among our
    people, there is a new determination to make progress. You can see it in
    many ways: Voter participation was up in November, and after the
    election it didn't stop. Here at the White House, mail has climbed to
    unprecedented levels. After I had been in office 14 weeks, the White
    House had received more mail than was received in all of 1992. We have
    had the switchboards jammed, the E-mail system full. And if you haven't
    gotten an answer to your letter, we're working on it. [Laughter]
        This country is pulsing with the power of individual citizens' ideas
    in their determination to get something done. The legislators who worked
    so hard to adopt this bill, the organizations that gave themselves so
    completely to its endeavor, the young people, the activists, MTV, all of
    them tapped a powerful current of energy that is still flowing in this
    country.
        The Congress has responded in other ways: the United States Senate
    passing just a few days ago a lobbying bill requiring registration by
    all lobbyists and requiring the disclosure of lobbyists' spending on
    Members of Congress is an example of that. The campaign finance reform
    which has been presented, dramatically trying to lower the costs of
    campaigns and reduce the influence of special interest groups, is an
    example of that.
        The current of reform is moving in this coun-

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    try. And those of you who helped to bring this bill to pass can take a
    large share of credit not only for this bill but for the general
    movement and energy and involvement and determination of all of our
    fellow citizens. It was never right to sit on the sidelines of our
    democracy. And now with motor voter, there will be fewer and fewer
    excuses for anyone to do so.
        Let us remember this in closing: Voting is an empty promise unless
    people vote. Now there is no longer the excuse of the difficulty of
    registration. It is the right of every American to vote. It is also the
    responsibility of every American to vote. We have taken an important
    step this morning to protect that right. And I want to challenge Joel
    and all the young people who did so much to register voters for the last
    election, and all of you who did so much to bring this voting rights
    bill to law and all the ones that preceded it, to make sure now that we
    keep the rights alive by making sure that the responsibility to exercise
    it is exercised by every eligible American.
        When we leave here today, we ought to say: This voting rights bill
    and the others will not be in vain. Every year from now on, we're going
    to have more registered voters and more people voting. We're going to
    make the system work. The law empowers us to do it. It's now up to us to
    assume the responsibility to see that it gets done.
        Thank you very much.

    Note: The President spoke at 11:32 a.m. on the South Lawn at the White
    House. He was introduced by Joel Shulkin, University of New Hampshire
    junior who was instrumental in achieving reform of that State's voter
    registration laws. H.R. 2, approved May 20, was assigned Public Law No.
    103-31.