Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1958-02-09
BY MARY LOU WERNER
Star Stan Writer

oeat stan WAAeNt
A glance at history should settle
any doubts about the motives
behind Virginia's "blank paper"
voter registration plan.
With far more candor than one
finds today, the trainers Of the
registration requirements in the
State constitution admitted it was
their purpose to bar as many
Negroes as possible from the polls.
The "blank paper" bill pending
at the current General Assembly
session calls for strict enforce
ment Of the registration procedure
hthat became law when Virginia's
constitution was adopted in 1902.
That procedure was born Of
q fervent Dixie desire to get around
the Fifteenth Amendment to the
Federal Constitution guaranteeing
equal voting rights to white and
Negro citizens.
Three registration prerequisites
were written into the constitution
at that time. and are still there
today.
One is the provision for a poll
tax, which so often has been
singled out by critics as the
States major deterrent to voting.
The second, upon which the
eblank paper" law is based, pro-
vides that prospective voter must
register in his own handwriting
without aid. suggestion, or mem
orandum, in the presence Of the
registration officer, stating therein
his name, age. date and place Of
birth, residence and occupation at
the time and for the one year
next preceding, and whether he
has previously voted. and If so.
the State, county and precinct in
which he voted last"
The third requirement-which
could bring about even more
havoc than the second-specifleS
that the prospective voter must
answer ANY and all questions af-
fecting his qualifications as an
elector submitted to him by the
registration officer. -
These three requirements were
known as the "GlaSs plan" at the
time Of their adoption Sc years
ago, taking their name from the
late Senator Carter Glass who was
a delegate to the constitutional
convention.
A Compromise
The plan represented something
Of a compromise Of a variety of
schemes offered to curb Negro
registration. 1t was compromise,
however, that favored the posi-
ton of Southside representatives
who wanted more than a white
majority. They wanted a white
voting supremacy strong enough
to remove any Negro influence
from elections. The key require
ment at that time was considered
to be the understanding clause"
which allows registrars to ques-
ton prospective voters. The
blank paper" provision or lit
eracy test as it was called in those
days, was thought inadequate by
the Black Belt delegation.
Just before the final vote was,
taken at the convention, Senator
Glass summed up his plan as fol-
lows:
This plan of popular suffrage
will eliminate the darby as q
political factor in this State in
less than five years, so that in no
single county Of the Common
wealth will there be the least con-
Germ felt for the supremacy Of the
white race in the affairs Of gov
eminent"
He predicted that his suffrage
plan would Inevitably cut from
the existing electorate four-flfths
of the Negro voters. That was
the purpose Of the convention.
That will be the achievement"
A questioner wanted to know
If it would not be done by fraud
and discrimination. Senator Glass
replied:
by fraud, no. BY discrimina-
ton, yes. But it will be dis
elimination within the letter Of
the law, and not in violation of
the law. Discrimination, why that
Is precisely what we propose. That
Is exactly what this convention
was elected for-to discriminate
to the very extremity Of per-