Speech #940066262

Twenty years is a long time. Let us look at what that 20year period is used to measure. First. it is used to measure the period of time during which the court must find that no test or device has been used to deny or to abridge the right to vote on account of race or color in a State or a subdivision which used a prohibited test or device. such as a literacy test. on November 1. 1964. and. the voter registration percentage on November 1. 1964. or the voter turnout in November of 1964 was less than 50 percent. or any State or subdivision which had the same kind of history in November 1968. before that State came out from under the special extraordinary provisions of the act. Second. the 20 years that is in the committee bill would be used as a measure of another matter wherein the court cannot enter a declaratory judgment until 20 years after the final judgment which holds that a test or device was used to deny or abridge the right to vote on account of race or color. It seems to me that the authors of the original Voting Rights Act were right.