Senator Dole Talking Points on Voting Rights Act Compromise

Item

Other Media

s-press_058_007_003_tr.txt

Transcription (Scripto)

Read Full Text Only (TXT)

Extent (Dublin Core)

1 Page

File Name (Dublin Core)

s-press_058_007_003

Title (Dublin Core)

Senator Dole Talking Points on Voting Rights Act Compromise

Date (Dublin Core)

1982

Date Created (Dublin Core)

1982

Congress (Dublin Core)

97th (1981-1983)

Topics (Dublin Core)

See all items with this valueSuffrage

Policy Area (Curation)

Civil Rights and Liberties, Minority Issues

Creator (Dublin Core)

Dole, Robert J., 1923-2021

Record Type (Dublin Core)

notes (documents)

Names (Dublin Core)

See all items with this valueUnited States. Voting Rights Act Amendments of 1982

Rights (Dublin Core)

http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/CNE/1.0/

Language (Dublin Core)

eng

Collection Finding Aid (Dublin Core)

https://dolearchivecollections.ku.edu/index.php?p=collections/findingaid&id=14&q=

Physical Location (Dublin Core)

Collection 006, Box 58, Folder 7

Institution (Dublin Core)

Robert J. Dole Institute of Politics, University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS

Archival Collection (Dublin Core)

Robert J. Dole Senate Papers-Press Related Materials, 1961-1996

Full Text (Extract Text)

TALKING POINTS -- VOTING RIGHTS ACT COMPROMISE
OPENING REMARKS
- Voting Rights Act -- most effective piece of civil rights legislation ever passed
- Supported in past
- Imperative that legislation is moved expeditiously
SUMMARY OF COMPROMISE
Section 2: The compromise maintains the "results" standard of the House bill, but adds language to address the proportional representation issue. Specifically, compromise provides that:
- Issue to be decided is whether political processes are equally open, thus placing focus on access to the process, not election results; and
- Extent to which minorities have been elected is one circumstance to consider, but expressly states that there is no right to proportional representation.
Section 5: The compromise retains the provisions of the House bill whereby a jurisdiction can bail-out of Section 5's preclearance requirement in 1984 by meeting a set to tough, new bail-out criteria. But, the compromise places a 25 year cap on the preclearance requirement, and provides for mandatory Congressional reconsideration after 15 years.
Other: The compromise extends the bilingual assistance requirements of the Act to 1992 (also included in both the Subcommittee bill and House bill).
The compromise also includes a provision requiring that the blind, disabled, and illiterate be able to have an assistant of their choosing in the polling booth. Metzenbaum is key force behind this provision, and credit should go to him.
Credits: Commend Senators DeConcini, Grassley, Mathias, and Kennedy for their efforts in working out the compromise. Credit should also go to the Leadership Conference and Ben Hooks.
Support: The compromise has the support of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, representing some 160 organizations.
Emphasize: The compromise does not weaken the legislation passed by the House. Rather, it strengthens it by addressing some concerns which have been expressed about that legislation, and thus should broaden its bipartisan support.
Committee Action: Adopted as a substitute amendment by a vote of 14-4 Thurmond, Hatch, East, Denton against) and ordered to be favorably reported by a vote of 17-1 (East against). We currently have 76 votes on the floor (66 original cosponsors, plus yourself, Heflin, Simpson, Laxalt, Grassley, Nunn, D'Amato, Goldwater, Wallop, and Gorton).

TALKING POINTS -- VOTING RIGHTS ACT COMPROMISE
OPENING REMARKS
- Voting Rights Act -- most effective piece of civil rights legislation ever passed
- Supported in past
- Imperative that legislation is moved expeditiously
SUMMARY OF COMPROMISE
Section 2: The compromise maintains the "results" standard of the House bill, but adds language to address the proportional representation issue. Specifically, compromise provides that:
- Issue to be decided is whether political processes are equally open, thus placing focus on access to the process, not election results; and
- Extent to which minorities have been elected is one circumstance to consider, but expressly states that there is no right to proportional representation.
Section 5: The compromise retains the provisions of the House bill whereby a jurisdiction can bail-out of Section 5's preclearance requirement in 1984 by meeting a set to tough, new bail-out criteria. But, the compromise places a 25 year cap on the preclearance requirement, and provides for mandatory Congressional reconsideration after 15 years.
Other: The compromise extends the bilingual assistance requirements of the Act to 1992 (also included in both the Subcommittee bill and House bill).
The compromise also includes a provision requiring that the blind, disabled, and illiterate be able to have an assistant of their choosing in the polling booth. Metzenbaum is key force behind this provision, and credit should go to him.
Credits: Commend Senators DeConcini, Grassley, Mathias, and Kennedy for their efforts in working out the compromise. Credit should also go to the Leadership Conference and Ben Hooks.
Support: The compromise has the support of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, representing some 160 organizations.
Emphasize: The compromise does not weaken the legislation passed by the House. Rather, it strengthens it by addressing some concerns which have been expressed about that legislation, and thus should broaden its bipartisan support.
Committee Action: Adopted as a substitute amendment by a vote of 14-4 Thurmond, Hatch, East, Denton against) and ordered to be favorably reported by a vote of 17-1 (East against). We currently have 76 votes on the floor (66 original cosponsors, plus yourself, Heflin, Simpson, Laxalt, Grassley, Nunn, D'Amato, Goldwater, Wallop, and Gorton).

TALKING POINTS -- VOTING RIGHTS ACT COMPROMISE
OPENING REMARKS
- Voting Rights Act -- most effective piece of civil rights legislation ever passed
- Supported in past
- Imperative that legislation is moved expeditiously
SUMMARY OF COMPROMISE
Section 2: The compromise maintains the "results" standard of the House bill, but adds language to address the proportional representation issue. Specifically, compromise provides that:
- Issue to be decided is whether political processes are equally open, thus placing focus on access to the process, not election results; and
- Extent to which minorities have been elected is one circumstance to consider, but expressly states that there is no right to proportional representation.
Section 5: The compromise retains the provisions of the House bill whereby a jurisdiction can bail-out of Section 5's preclearance requirement in 1984 by meeting a set to tough, new bail-out criteria. But, the compromise places a 25 year cap on the preclearance requirement, and provides for mandatory Congressional reconsideration after 15 years.
Other: The compromise extends the bilingual assistance requirements of the Act to 1992 (also included in both the Subcommittee bill and House bill).
The compromise also includes a provision requiring that the blind, disabled, and illiterate be able to have an assistant of their choosing in the polling booth. Metzenbaum is key force behind this provision, and credit should go to him.
Credits: Commend Senators DeConcini, Grassley, Mathias, and Kennedy for their efforts in working out the compromise. Credit should also go to the Leadership Conference and Ben Hooks.
Support: The compromise has the support of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, representing some 160 organizations.
Emphasize: The compromise does not weaken the legislation passed by the House. Rather, it strengthens it by addressing some concerns which have been expressed about that legislation, and thus should broaden its bipartisan support.
Committee Action: Adopted as a substitute amendment by a vote of 14-4 Thurmond, Hatch, East, Denton against) and ordered to be favorably reported by a vote of 17-1 (East against). We currently have 76 votes on the floor (66 original cosponsors, plus yourself, Heflin, Simpson, Laxalt, Grassley, Nunn, D'Amato, Goldwater, Wallop, and Gorton).