Speech #890087253

By "test or device" this bill means. among other things. any requirement that a registrant possess good moral character or demonstrate "the ability to read. write. or interpret any matter." But regrettably the bill does not apply to all States that maintained such tests or devices in November 1964. It applies only in those States or parts of States in which less than 50 percent of the adults were registered. or less than 50 percent of the adults voted in the Presidential election of 1964. The discriminatory and unfair nature of H.R. 6400. there again can be clearly seen from the fact that it proposes outlawing literacy tests not throughout the United States or even throughout North Carolina but in just a few Southern States and in34 selected counties of my own State of North Carolina. including all of the 9 counties which I have the honor to represent. As I have previously indicated. these counties would not be selected on the basis of evidence of violations of the 15th amendment or even on the basis of allegations of such violations. Instead they would be selected through an arbitrary mathematical formula based on the percentage of citizens voting. without regard to whether or not discriminatory practices were involved in any way.