Testimony given at subcommittee hearings for H.R. 6219 has convinced me beyond a doubt that to allow the act and its strict enforcement procedures to expire now would cause a reversal of many of the gains in minority voter participation made in the past 10 years. By extending and expanding the act. we also address the problem of the languageminority citizen and his or her special problems in registering and voting. In the course of hearings. the subcommittee found that conducting elections only in English was as much a barrier to voting by language minorities as are literacy tests. which are prohibited by the present act. For this reason. title II of H.R. 6219 prohibits the conduct of Englishonly elections in jurisdictions where 5 percent or more of the population Is a member of a singlelanguage minority and less than 50 percent of the eligible voters actually voted in the Presidential election of 1972. Essentially. title II of H.R. 6219 expands the definition of "test or device" to include Englishonly elections. and prohibits their use in jurisdictions where it would infringe upon a citizens ability to exercise his or her vote. The following protections would apply in those jurisdictions covered as a result of title II: First. suspension of literacy tests and the prohibition of the conduct of Englishonly elections. second. section 5 preclearance of all new voting changes. third. Attorney General authority to certify service of Federal examiners. and fourth. Attorney General authority to certify service of Federal observers.
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literacy tests