These provisions are vital if that goal is to be reached. A 10year extension of the act is needed. not only because it will likely take that much longer to finally bring to an end nearly 100 years of voting discrimination. but because such protections will be vitally needed during the redistricting and reapportionment that will take place following the 1980 census. A permanent ban on literacy tests and other such devices is needed. not only because 14 States still have on their books laws providing for such tests and can reinstate such devices at will upon the expiration of the Federal law. but because we must remove once and for all the assumption that the illiterate are less capable of casting an informed ballot than those who can read and write. Finally. and most important. the provisions of the Voting Rights Act must be extended to nonEnglish speaking minorities whose voting rights are currently and effectively undermined and many of whom are excluded from participation in elections. An individual is no less informed and knowledgeable simply because English is not his or her main language.
Identified stereotypes
The assumption that the illiterate are less capable of casting an informed ballot than those who can read and write.