Local registrar responds to NAACP election lawsuit

The NAACP is moving forward with a lawsuit over the amount of voting machines in the Commonwealth. On Monday the group will return to federal court. With a surge in registered voters this election year, they are demanding more voting machines, especially in regions with high minority populations. At this time more than 436,000 new voters have registered. That’s a 10% increase since the last election.

Delegate Onzlee Ware is a member of the NAACP.

"It's important because it's the first. People have been apprehensive to say this, but race does a play a part, but not necessarily a bad part,” Ware said.

While he doesn’t think Roanoke will have a problem, he agrees with the lawsuit.

"To vote for an African American, a black man, for President and we're not used to it. If he were to win and I believe he will and I hope he will, I don't want any questions on that. If the opposite were to happen, I don't want any questions on whether he was defeated properly,” he said.

At the Roanoke City Registrar’s Office, Deirdre Martin with the electoral board says not to worry.

"It's not an issue for Roanoke City. We have more than the required number of voting machines per registered voter. I believe that number is one machine for every 750 voters,” Martin said.

The Roanoke City Electoral Board says they have over 130 voting machines – that’s almost two dozen more than the minimum requirement.

But there will be long lines.

Ware agrees the NAACP could have looked into the situation sooner.

"We need to go back to General Assembly and look at ways we can improve the voting process. And there are certainly ways we can improve it - early voting or extending the polls,” he said.

No matter who you’re voting for, one way you shouldn’t have any problems is get to the polls early.

State Republicans plan to oppose the NAACP’s request. They say changing the procedures so close to Election Day could disrupt voters and unfair to their candidates.

Ten On Your Side also talked to other city registrar’s offices. Lynchburg will use optical scanning and they have one voting machine per precinct. The city of Martinsville also says they feel comfortable with the number of machines they have.