Speech #910174613

At this point. the President mentioned two points. It was upon that basis that there was some question as to whether he would be satisfied with the enactment of a bill that would contain only those two points. One would be that instead of simply extending until 1975 the Voting Rights Act. which orders literacy tests nationwide. to apply to all States until 1974. and would extend to millions of citizens not now covered under the committee bill. The second point was that otherwise qualified voters not be denied the right to vote for President merely because they change their State of residence shortly before a national election. However. any doubt on this point that might be read into the construction of this letter Is certainly completely disposed of by a news conference held by Ron Ziegler on February 12 in Miami. An article in the Washington Post discusses the major points of the Nixon position as stated by Ziegler. and one part that is pertinent in this connection reads as follows: Well. the President has said that every law in the United States should apply equally to all parts of the country. This particular point of view has been expressed in the Administrations position on voting rights legislation which extends the voting rights legislation throughout the country in matters such as literacy tests and residency requirements. The House has just passed the Administrations proposal regarding voting rights and. of course. the President supports all of the elements of the Housepassed bill. I have here the transcript of the press conference on February 12. in which Mr.