WASHINGTON — While portions of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 aren’t set to expire until 2007, civil rights leaders worry the renewed act will lack protections for minority voters.

“We’ve got some people saying they want to ‘reform’ the act. The better word would be ‘regress,’” said U.S. Rep. Jim Clyburn, a Columbia Democrat and former chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus.

Civil rights activist and Greenville native Jesse Jackson made the same point at the annual convention of the NAACP last week: “The Voting Rights Act as we know it is on the chopping block.”

Congress could be acting on the law much sooner than 2007.

U.S. Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, told the NAACP convention that he and House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., would push to have the act before Congress before any portion of it expires.

Of particular concern are two sections of the law — one requiring federal “pre-clearance” in certain jurisdictions for any changes in voting law or practice.

These jurisdictions, including South Carolina and most Southern states, were found to have excluded blacks and other minorities from voting in the past.

The other provision, a more recent addition to the act, requires states with large populations who speak a language other than English to provide ballots in that language.

Some conservatives have questioned the need to renew the sections. Asked recently about the “pre-clearance” provision — Section 5 of the act — Attorney General Alberto Gonzales expressed doubts about its necessity.

“What is important is that we have in place a system that ensures the voting opportunities for every American,” he said. “It may be Section 5 is the best way to achieve that. It may not be.”

Only one member of South Carolina’s congressional delegation, U.S. Rep. Bob Inglis of Travelers Rest, sits on the House or Senate Judiciary committees, through which the act will pass before Congress votes on it.

Inglis, a conservative Republican, said Section 5 should be renewed. He acknowledges it might inconvenience the jurisdictions to which it applies, “but it’s worth that inconvenience.”

But Inglis would not extend renewal to the bilingual ballot requirements, which directly affect states such as Florida and Texas — with large populations of non-English speakers — but not South Carolina.

“These are people who cast their lot with us,” he said. “Asking them to learn English is not too much to ask.”

Inglis, whose district is 75 percent white, said only one constituent has mentioned the act to him — a local election official who doesn’t like Section 5.

Clyburn, whose district is 57 percent black, said he has heard from scores of constituents who are worried about losing rights under the act. He says many have seen a mass e-mail that wrongly implies that blacks risk losing their right to vote when Congress acts on the law.

“That’s just not true,” he said. “That’s a big exaggeration.”

At the same time, Clyburn said, Congress could do real damage to the act. For that reason, its complete renewal is a top priority of both the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and the Congressional Black Caucus.

Lonnie Randolph, president of the S.C. chapter of the NAACP, returned to South Carolina this past weekend from the national group’s conference ready to mobilize South Carolinians on the act.

Saturday, he spoke to a group of black ministers about encouraging their congregations to support renewal of all sections of the law. He hopes South Carolinians will accompany him Aug. 6 to Atlanta for a march to support the act.

Every part of the act is necessary, Randolph said. As recently as the last presidential election, in Charleston and Abbeville and other S.C. counties, notices were posted in black neighborhoods to intimidate residents into staying home on Election Day, he said.

“They said that anyone with even a minor legal problem could be arrested at the polls,” Randolph said. “We’re not at a point where any relaxing of the act can take place.”

Reach Markoe at (202) 383-6023 or lmarkoe@krwashington.com.