Evening star., 1960-04-09
RIGHTS ~ -...--
Senate Changes Seen
Acceptable to House

munity a pattern of discrimina-
ton exists to prevent any racial
group from becoming registered
voters.
II the court finds such a
pattern. the judge may appoint
referees to hear the applica-
tions of members of that race
who complained they had been
unable to register with State
officials. The referee would as
certain whether the applicants
were qualified under State law
and report their findings to the
court. State officials would be
given an opportunity to file
exceptions to the reports of the
referees before the court decided
whether the applicants should
be placed on the voting rolls.
Two of the most important
changes the Senate made in
the House bill related to how
proceedings would be conducted
by the referee.
The Senate Judiciary Com
mittee recon- m e n d e d an
amendment by Senator Kefau-
yer, Democrat of Tennessee, to
require the referees to meet in
a public Office, after a two-day
notice to State officials, who
could be present or represented
by counsel with authority to
make a transcript of the pro-
ceedings.
This concession to the South
was eliminated in the Senate
after Northern Senators argued
a public hearing before the
referee was not necessary since
State officials would be given
a chance to question the ref
ereeS' finding in court.
In knocking out the Kefau-
yer amendment. the Senate re-
stored the House requirement
that the applicants must be
heard ex psrte by the referee,
but required the judge to fix
the times and places where the
referees would receive voting
applications.
This amendment was in
tended to meet a Southern
argument that the referees
might go secretly door to door,
seeking to recruit new voters.
Voting Status Change
The second major change
made another concession to the
South by modifying a House
provision which was intended
to let judges confer provisional
voting status on applicants
whose cases had not been set
tied as election day approached.
Under the House bill, the
votes of these individuals would
be lmpounded until a final de-
clsion after the election, as to
whether these voters were
qualified.
SouthernerS complained that
where a court had found a
pattern of discrimination, this
provision could result in large
numbers of Negroes being au-
thorlzed to vote on the eve of
election, even though no addi-
tional white persons could be
registered because the deadline
for registering under State law
would have passed.
Senate Republican Leader
Dlrksen offered a compromise,
which was adopted, stating that
the Judge would be required to
grant provisional voting au-
thority only if he found the
applicant was qualified to vote
under State law"
The liberals disagreed over
the wisdom of this change, and
some of them joined the mod
crates and the Southerners in
supporting it. Other liberals
opposed it to the end.
Senate leaders insisted the
amendment merely specified
what the House had in mind
when it adopted the section.
But the Southerners and some
OF the liberals agreed that it
eliminated any need for pro-
visional voting status. They ar
gued that if an individual had
to be found qualified under
State law before the election
there was nothing left for the
court to determine after the
election.