'60s Flashback

Voting rights soar in the House

"It was just like old times. We creamed 'em." The nostalgic reference was to the historic legislative victories on civil rights in the 1960s. The happy speaker was California Democratic Congressman Don Edwards, a veteran of those past triumphs. The cause of his glee was the smashing vote, 389 to 24, by which the House last week extended key provisions of the most successful civil rights law of all: the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

The act, parts of which will expire next year unless the Senate also agrees to extend them, had seemed threatened by the conservative drive against centralized power in Washington and the reluctance of Ronald Reagan to support it. Conservatives, especially in the South, argued that the act had done its job and it was time to get the Federal Government off the backs of the 800 counties in 24 states whose election procedures are monitored under the law. Indeed, the number of blacks registered to vote in the South had risen from 29% to more than 50% and the ranks of black elected officials in the region had grown from fewer than 100 in 1965 to 1,813 last year.

But with the Reagan Administration retreating on school integration and affirmative job action, civil rights advocates were determined to prevent any backsliding on voting laws. They rallied more than 160 diverse organizations, including the American Bar Association, Common Cause and the League of Women Voters, and applied intense political pressure on members of the House. "For the first time in a long time the old historic coalition was working together," observed Texas Democratic Congressman Mickey Leland.

A series of hearings was held in Montgomery, Ala., by the House Judiciary Committee's subcommittee on civil and constitutional rights, headed by Edwards.

Illinois Republican Henry Hyde, a member of the Judiciary Committee who had strongly opposed an unmodified extension of the law, changed his mind after these sessions. Said he: "I listened to witness after witness testify that voting rights violations are as flagrant today as they were 16 years ago."

Political realities were just as persuasive. Many of the "boll weevil" Democrats who voted for Reagan's sharp cutbacks in social programs come from districts with a significant percentage of black voters. These constituents are mad enough already and would be outraged by any refusal to extend the act. The Administration is similarly under heavy pressure to prove that it has some sympathy for minorities, and thus cannot afford politically to oppose the voting act renewal. Still, Reagan, who says he supports the act "in principle," has postponed taking a stand on its specific provisions.

Although the House vote was overwhelming, the debate on some provisions was emotional. "We want to be treated like everyone else," shouted Louisiana Republican W. Henson Moore, protesting a requirement that any county now covered by the law must demonstrate that it has done nothing to discriminate against minority voters for ten years before it can get out from under federal supervision. All counties covered must have advance approval from Washington before changing their election procedures.

The extension of the act goes beyond a recent Supreme Court decision by declaring that a state voting law can be ruled illegal if its "effect" is to discriminate. The court had ruled that a state must be shown to have "intended" to discriminate before its procedures could be struck down. This change was hotly debated. Also controversial was extension of the current requirement that bilingual voting materials be supplied in any election district where 5% or more of the voters are Hispanic or native American.

Supporters of the law are preparing for a more difficult fight in the Senate, which is scheduled to consider the extension in January. There the Judiciary Committee is headed by South Carolina Republican Strom Thurmond, who has argued for loosening the act. Whether he succeeds may depend on what position the President finally takes. qed

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