WASHINGTON -- The drive to renew major provisions of the 1965 Voting Rights Act has stalled in the House over objections by some Southern Republicans to continuing federal oversight of election practices in their states and requiring language assistance for citizens who need it.

Reps. Gresham Barrett, R-Westminster, and Bob Inglis, R-Travelers Rest, supported the opposition that forced House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., to pull the bill from the floor Thursday.

GOP leaders have been trying to determine whether to resume consideration of the measure in July or leave it for a new Congress in 2007 when the provisions expire.

"We have members who have different interpretations of what some of the words say in the bill that came out of committee," House Majority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, said after the bill was pulled. "There has been some concerns raised. We are trying to clarify some issues for members."

Advertisement

Barrett said the delay gives him and other lawmakers time to change what is known as the preclearance provision that applies largely to Southern states with a history of voting discrimination. Under the preclearance rule, the Justice Department must review any electoral changes proposed by states and local jurisdictions covered by law.

"I think this is too important an issue to push through," Barrett said.

Barrett believes the preclearance provision, which is based on data from the 1960s, penalizes the South for its past. He supports efforts to substitute data from the 1996, 2000 and 2004 elections. Southern Republicans believe this would end the requirement that their states submit any election changes to the Justice Department for review.

"Voting patterns have changed in South Carolina," Barrett said. "I don't think anyone will deny that."

Barrett cited a 1992 study that shows the voter registration gap between black and white South Carolinians has shrunk. Whites had a 38.4 percent edge in 1964 but only a 5.1 percent lead in 1988. Inglis questions the need to provide language aid to naturalized citizens when they vote.

"If citizenship requires proficiency in English, it seems to follow they should not need a bilingual ballot," Inglis said.

He and Barrett signed a letter to House leaders seeking the right for opponents to offer an amendment to delete the requirement for a bilingual ballot.

House Republican leaders back renewal of the law's key provisions, including the preclearance requirement.

Dwight James, executive director of the South Carolina NAACP Conference, said lawmakers who want to change the preclearance or review requirements "are seeing the present through rose-colored glasses."

Rep. James Clyburn, the only black member in the South Carolina congressional delegation, said Congress should renew the law in its current form.

Clyburn said while he had an easier time registering to vote than earlier generations of blacks, the state had "other sophisticated ways to dilute or nullify" the ballots of black voters.

Clyburn credits the 1965 Voting Rights Act and federal courts with forcing the demise of South Carolina's full slate law that required voters to cast a ballot for every position on a slate or risk having their vote discarded. The practice generally meant candidates backed by minority voters lost because their supporters' voting strength was diluted. The requirement kept black voters from concentrating their support behind a single candidate who was unlikely to draw enough white votes to win.

Because of its past practices, South Carolina is among the states that must get approval from the Justice Department before implementing changes in its election system.

Clyburn, now a seven-term member of Congress and chairman of the House Democratic caucus, acknowledges the progress South Carolina and other states have made. But the former history teacher said the past is a good predictor of future actions.

"You can always best tell what people will do by what they have done," he said recently.

Inglis said the preclearance provision is extra work for South Carolina officials, but he added, "It's important to reassure members of the minority community that their right to vote is protected."