Excerpts from Senate Report RE: Voter Assistance

    ?.2 [p. lrt]

',loIev Assietqnc:z

-1Ti6-lffiguage issistarrce provisions of Seetion 203 are extended
for an adfitio"nal soven y"aiB In addition, a new subeection 208 is
added. prcscribinc the nietho<l bv whieh the voters who are blind,
disabled. or illitcrite oro entitled io have rssistance in a polling booth
fiom a pennn of their own chocing. with two erceptione.

The Committee bill will extend the essential protections of the his-
toric Yoting Rights Act It will insrrre that the hard-won progtess of
the Dast, is breserved and that the efrort to achieve full narticipation
fer iii.Amiricans in orr riemocracv rvrii ffi

TvAhil'thc costs of bilingual el€ct ionslFmEni6ifii; vierved
in proper percpcctive, the Committee believes that irtain cods should
be wil.ling-ly in_curred tO make-our most fundementel oolitical_ri€hts

? q [P' trtl

p tf, LP'zu*t)

r nnlitnlor all

,o ,T!plro-,1 VIII. ASSISTANCE TO VO(IEBS

susceptible than
use

vote
tl
tothat their right

proteeted.
Clearly, the manner of providing assistance has a significant effect

on the free erercise of the riqht to virte bv sueh people who need assic-
ancc Speeificallv. it is onlinatural that mani' such r-oters mav feel
npprehensive abiiut casting a ballot in the preseiee of'or msv he iigled
by, somgmother than I Derson of their own ehoice. -ts-lGiiiS-eoote
re-(ilrn-lrg ass ro choosc oerrrCen
easting a ballot under the aclverse eircumstances of not being able to
ehoose their own essistance or forfeiting their right to vote. The Com-
nrittee is concerned t.hat some people in this situation do in faet elect
to forfeit their right to vote. Otle5-EsJlhetheir aetual preference

€r-- *)"a*a

t h" ;"d t.;il-;il; i;' ri;;iiliil; i;;; ,i:
lated. As a'result. members'of such groups
tlfdiscriminated egainst at the rrolls and
in state and federul elections will not be



tlolev Ass'b lanco 1

the infuenee of those a them or

The Committee has eonclrrded that the onlv kind of assistance [hat

[e established in a eneourag?s

- Itec pn. t4-38. 60-{13., Th? eomElti.r re.i".d lnfornrtlon lrdlcitlnl thrt h.rlnc rmlrtanG pmrlrtr,l bf
.lc(tlon olllelrlr dlterlmlnrtar rFrlnat thop rot.n ?ho naad luch il'l hm[r. tt lDfdDg"rumo th"lr rlait to a REt bollot rn,i ern rllrcor.ric. nln" tam rotlnE for f.i! of
lntlaldrtlon or lact of nrlrrcI. frtt.? fmm ,rm6 Grih.l. llitlonol trrd.ritlnn ot th"
Bllnd. to Senrtor M.iranbauD, Aprll 27,1982 (madc Dert of th. ?Gcord ot tha eomrltttencatir3 to eoBild.? 8. legz.)

[page 63]

f,Jv includinc the blind. disebled ond-persons unable to read or write
lrnd
of individuals be treated identically for purposes of voter &ssistance
rrrocedurcs. States, for example. might hove neason to authorize dif-
ferent kinds of asistance for the blind as opposed to the illiterate.
Tiro Committee has simply concluded that, Ct the least. members of
each group are entitled to assistanee from a per:son of their orvn choice.

All states now provide somo form of voting nssistance for handi-
copped voters. The implicit requirement of the ban on literacy tests
in eovered jurisdictions rvhich the 1e65 Yoting Rights Aet imposed,
is that illiterate voters in those districts may not be denied assistaneo
a

--_:_This stultiff ing provision (barring assistance to illiterates)
, eonfliets with the Voting Rights Act of 1965. The Act pro-
\ vides for the srrspension'6f liieracy tests in stotes rrhich liave
\

\ zqt\

speeified
to vote. the

will make fttlly 'rmeeninglfrrl" the yote of thc blind. disa5led. o. thos€
who are unablc to read or write. !s to perrntt them to brins into



lolev ksiosa.nca 3

ruse.d such tests as a tliscriminatory device to prevent Negtoes
from registering to vote. Like any.other lar', this provision
implicitlv cerries with it all meons necessarv and nrooer to
car'ry oul effectively the purposes of the lai,. As touisiana
rccognized for 150 years. if on illiterate is entitled to vote. he
ls enrrueo to esststance a,t tne Dolts tlraq_lluI-uiaEE-trlE_90t8
mllAfi?fill-[[erca nnoIlmEliE6-Cirnsress the self -defeatinc
nffi-n'tfi-at an illiterrte hni the right'[to] pull thc lever of E
Ioting machine, but not the right to know for whom he pulls
the lever.'ot

The 1970 temporsry suspension of literacy.tests nationwide, made per-
manent in 1975. means that o denial of assistance to illiterate voten
in any jurisdiction is now in eonfliet rrith the Yoting Rishts Act. As an
indcpendent souFce of the right of illitoro,te vders to a^sisilonce in
msny ces€s is thet it must li provided whereyer sueh assistrncs is
availoble to other gmups sueh os'the blind or disabled.[o

Therofore, this amendment does not crcate a new right of the sp€ci-
fieil elass of voters to receive aseistancc: rather it irnolEments nn eiist-
ing right by prescribing minimol ruluirements as lto the manner in
Nhieh voters mav choose to rrceive assistance. In fact msnv stttss
olready provide fbr assistanee by a person of the voter's choie."Section
ffiaia.. r. Ill.t rlggt. zuo y'. !unD. Baa. B,ao (!.D. yt.r. leocl 1 ..c llrralaa

'r.te. 
v. Lo.i.t,fi,26tt tr. SupD. 70t, ?00 (E.D. Ir. 1086) r|rd m?E..888 U.!. 27O (100?).

-. - !Q{ E iu'n. .t ?Ot. lcr t ler.llt M!cr. Dbcrl'tsc,i,i da l'otlsc, 20 Viad. L
Rov. 1t23. 56L'll{t (1073).

DlrcTta r.8r|itll, 120 tr tuDD. ftl (W.D. T.r. l9?O). r.ilcrd.d, {60 tr 2d ?0O (ftb
Clr. l0?l), lnrulctloD 8r.Et!d. Clv. I{o. SA ?Hl-loo (lV,D. AGt.. D...0, f97l).

lpage 6{l

:i
dffective method of prpvidinc assistance while at the same time con-
.formrng ro che perteffi snres.
I Section 4 of the bill would not permit the voter's employer or agent
lof thet employer to provide arsistsnce. It would also preelude assist-
[anco by an ofrcer or ogent of the l'oterts union.' It should be notcd, however, that this emplo-ver limitation does not
apply to cases of voters who must *lect rssi$,ance in e srnall commu-
nity eompooed largely of langr.rage minorities whose language is pri-

. marily unwritt€n or oml, euch as chose residing in en Alaskan native
)villags of a New Merican pueblo or reservatiorl-. To being with, meny
of these communities have only & very few emplovera In addition, it
often happeru thet ell or most of the members of the village belong
to the sami regional or village nrtive corporation; the Comm-ittee r€c-
ognizes that a voterts choiee of a fellow corporation nrember to assist
in the voting booth may give the spperrrnce of a technicol violation
of the employer bar. fn either case, however. the eommittee eoneludes
that the burden on the individual's richt to chooee r tnrstrorthv as-
sistant would be too grest to justify ep[lication of the bar on empioyer
asststancs.

It should also be noted that the ban on assistance by an agent of the
employer or by an agent or officer of the voter's union does not extend
to assistance by a voter's co-worker, or fellow union-member.

242