Article, Voting Rights Act Results Dramatic

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Voting rights act results dramatic By TOM GREENE ATLANTA (UPI 1-Five year: ago today President Lyndon B Johnson signed into law tht Voting Rights Act of 1965, described by his attorney general. Ramsey Clark, as a “bold experiment in democracy.” The experiment has produced dramatic results. The number of blacks regis tered to vote in the six southern states fully covered by the act has nearly doubled. Five years ago 72 Negroes held elective positions in the South. The figure today is 540. White politicians who defended segregation in the 1950 s headed into the 1970 s voicing concern about poverty Many who failed change wit!, the times learned that the Negro electorate, while usually not big enough to elect black candidates, often produced victories for more moderate whites. Blacks Praise Effect Charles Evers, the black man elected a year ago as mayor of Fayette, Mis., termed the act the greatest deterrent to racial discrimination we have ever had.” Mr. ana Mrs. Thomas .Mauldin of .Selma, Ala., the first persons to register under the act, are convinced black people are far better off now than five years ago. “People have got more rights, more privileges, than they have ever had before,” said Mauldin. “They look more like citizens now’.” There now are 10,000 black voters in the Selma area, and •Mauldin figures this is why the once dusty streets in Sell.' 2 ’s Negro neighborhoods are being paved. “If it keeps up, we’re going to have all these streets black topped.” Some Conservatives Opposed George Andrews, 69, a conservative Democrat who has represented a south Alabama district in Congress since 1942, doesn’t share the Mauldins’ liking for the act. “This has been the most punitive, vindictive piece of legislation ever passed in this country.” Andrews said. “I’ve actually seen people voting who couldn't read. We have to permit morons to vote, and that diminishes the intelligence of the electorate.” The Voting Rights Act was applied to states in which less than 50 per cent of the voting age population registered to vote. It specifically covered Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina, Virginia, portions of North Carolina and Alaska (the only nonsouthem state). The law suspended state literacy tests for prospective voters, empowered the Justice Department to send federal registrars to foot-dragging counties and extended civil and criminal protection to persons seeking to register. The most significant registration tool was the suspension of literacy tests in many sections of the South but in other areas blacks with doctorate degrees were rejected.