A Fight Goes On

Three years ago Congress overwhelmingly approved extension of the 1965 Voting Rights Act, a recognition that many minority voters still needed federal protections despite the progress made since President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the original and historic legislation.

The Reagan Administration vigorously opposed the extension until an 11th-hour acknowledgement that Congress would prevail and federal surveillance would continue. Now the Administration is trying to undo what Congress intended.

The Justice Department has proposed new rules that would weaken the enforcement of the law. Under current policies, local officials must prove that election changes such as redistricting, annexation or at-large balloting do not dilute the vote of minorities in keeping with the principle of one vote equaling another. The revised rules would require the voters who challenge the changes to prove discrimination--a provision that contradicts the protections provided by Congress in 1982.

Under other proposed revisions, Atty. Gen. Edwin Meese III would have the authority to approve changes that result in discrimination if the “retrogression” was “unavoidable.” That provision conflicts with the law. Discrimination is always avoidable, and always illegal.

Although the days of physical harassment, poll taxes and literacy tests--with questions such as how many bubbles does a bar of soap have--have ended, minorities lose political clout because of gerrymandering and other schemes. The Voting Rights Act, which applies to nine Southern states and parts of 10 other states, was extended to 1997 to protect the equal opportunity to participate in the political process.

But the Administration is against strong enforcement both in policy and in court. After a federal court ruled that a North Carolina state redistricting plan discriminated against black voters, the Justice Department intervened to support the redrawn lines. The U.S. Supreme Court is expected to hear the case next month in the first major test of the 1982 law.

To support its position, the Administration has relied on language in a compromise that broke the impasse when the Senate Judiciary Committee considered extending the 1982 law. Sen. Bob Dole (R-Kan.), who proposed the compromise, has dramatically opposed the Administration’s misinterpretation in a friend-of-the-court brief. The brief was signed by four other Republicans, including Sen. Charles McC. Mathias of Maryland, and five Democrats, including Sen. Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts. And North Carolina’s Republican governor, James G. Martin, and the Republican National Committee have filed briefs in opposition to the Administration’s position.

During the debate over the extension, Republicans like Dole and Mathias specified that the law would not require the election of minorities in quota-like proportions, but that minorities should have equal access to the electoral process--in other words, a fair shake at the polls and on the ballot.

The Reagan Administration should follow the lead of these enlightened Republicans in both the North Carolina case and in the enforcement of the Voting Rights Act of 1982.