Evening star., 1961-09-09
RIGHTS
RIGHTS
Action Urged to Curb
Vote DenioIs in South

NOOS DSIII
Continued From First Page
plants. where the Justice De-
partment and private citizens
filed suit to obtain the fran
chise and where few or no Ne
groes were registered despite
their heavy concentration in the
population.
He said there was no evidence
of deprivation of voting rights
in the other AZ States, adding
there is some basis for being
encouraged" at developments
in this field in the last two
years.
Application TeChniques Hit
An exhaustive investigation
of registration practices in
Louisiana and reports from
other States led the commission
to conclude that "a common
technique" for depriving Ne
groes of the vote was "the
discriminatory application" of
legal requirements that voters
be able to read and write, inter-
pref the Constitution or calcu-
late their exact age.
Unanimously, the commits
sion recommended that such
requirements-now laid down
in 81 States-be voided by
Federal statute so far as ap-
plicantS with at least a sixth
grade education are concerned.
A sixth grade education is
recognized by the Census
Bureau as "the functional test
of literacy." Making it a test
for voting was suggested in the
1860 Republican platform.
4 Urge No Literacy Test
Four of the commission
members went further and
urged Congress to bar all
forms of literacy tests for all
voters. They said Federal
statute should provide a vote
for anyone who meets his
States age and length-of-
residence requirements. is not
legally confined and is not a
convicted felon.
Taking this stand were the
commissions chairman, DR.
John A. Hannah, president of
Michigan State University; the
Rev. Theodore M. Hesburgh,
president of Notre Dame
University; Dean SpottSwood
w. Robinson III, of Howard
University Law School and
Dean Erwin N. GriSwold OF
Harvard University Law
School.
Two Challenge View
DiSSents on this recommen-
dation we're filed by two other
members, Robert G. Storey, for
mer dean of Southern Metho-
dist University law school, and
DR.. Robert S. Rankin, profess
sor of political science at Duke
University.
They said the Federal Gov
ernment has sufficient author
ity to protect voting rights
without resort to 80 sweeping
a recommendation as this. .
The security and purity of the
ballot can be destroyed by per-
mitting illiterate to vote"
In 1859, a substantially SIM
liar proposal, in the form of a
suggested constitutional amend
ment, split the commission, 3-3,
and aroused a storm of protest
from Southern Senators. This
year, Dean Robinson and Dean
Griswold, appointed by Presi-
dent Kennedy, joined DR.. Han
nah and Father Hesburgh, who
have served on the commission
since its beginning, to give the
suggestion majority backing,
The dissent by Mr.. Storey
and DR.. Rankin on this matter
was the only disagreement
among the commissioners in
the voting report.
Agree on 8 Proposals
They were un a n i'm Gus in
urging three other steps:
l. Congress should consider
legislation to require SuDSCanClal
equality of population in legiS-
lative and congressional dis
trictS and should grant Fed
eral courts Jurisdiction to re-
view suits against malappor-
tionment and gerrymandering
This recommendation was
based on a finding that NAL
apportionment dilutes the right
to vote and, by operating to
the disadvantage of minority
groups in urban areas, further
weakens Negroes voting rights.
2. Congress should amend
the 1860 civil rights law to
outlaw arbitrary actions by
registrars that keep would-be
voters from qualifying.
The commission cited ex-
amples from its hearings in