Speech #1030014347

But while the ideal of broadbased voter participation was being incorporated into the Constitution. registration procedures were adopted in many States that had the effectand often the intentof denying the right to vote to many groups. especially racial. religious. and ethnic minorities. The turnofthecentury registration laws that swept the country had the goodgovernment purpose of preventing ballot fraud. But those laws also served the ulterior motive of reducing access to the ballot box to the waves of new immigrants reaching our shores. Under these laws. voters were frequently required to register many months before election day. and regIstration was often further restricted by limiting the number and the hours of registration sites. In 1959. the first report on voting rights by the U.S.