Residence requirements. age. previoub criminal record. are obvious examples indicating factors which a State may take into consideration in determining the qualifications of voters. The ability to read and write likewise has some relation to standards designed to promote intelligent use of the ballot. The Supreme Court said further: No time need be spent on the question of the validity of the literacy testits validity is admitted. But irrespective of the Constitution and the decisions of the U.S. Supreme Court. the Attorney General says in H.R. 6400 that a State may have these eligibility requirements. provided the State also proves a most unheard of thing. in my opinion. that is. that at least 50 percent of its eligible voters have registered in the State. Neither the 15th amendment to the Constitution. nor any other section of the Constitution. says that you must register or vote 90. 60. 50. 30 percent. or any other percentum of the qualified electors in order not to be held guilty of discrimination. And the Supreme Court has likewise never made any such decision. Yet. the Attorney General in this bill says that If you have a literacy test law and do not register 50 percent of your electors then you must come into the U.S. Federal court in the District of Columbia and prove you did not discriminate. In other words. you are presumed to have discriminated in your State if you have a literacy test law and do not register or vote 50 percent of the qualified voters. Any such presumption as this is not only a fallacy but an absolute absurdity. Yet. this unfair. unfounded. and unsupported presumption is the key to H.R. 6400.
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