President. the Senate is engaged in vigorous debate concerning an issue which forms a basic thread in the fabric of American democracy. We are concerned in this debate with legislation that seeks to guarantee each citizen the right to vote. It has become an accepted fact that the right to vote is not an effective one when encumbered by artificial barriers such as literacy tests and other "tests or device." The Voting Rights Act of 1965 developed a set of interacting mechanisms. of varying application. for both immediate and longrun impact. The act served the immediate need to increase registration by suspending literacy tests and the future needs by the preclearance provisions in section 5. Mr. President. the Voting Rights Act is 10 years old now. and we are being asked to extend the act for an additional period so that its protection will be available not only to those previously covered but to new groups and areas of the country as well.
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literacy tests