Chiavaroli, James V., Commissioner, Board of Elections, Monroe Statements of-Continued Thompson, Frank, Jr., a Representative in Congress from the State of Prepared statements submitted for the record— Apol, Bernard J., director of elections, State of Michigan. Bonker, Hon., Don, a Representative in Congress from the State of amendments offered for the Universal Voter Registration "Sense and Nonsense About Voting Fraud". Clusen, Ruth C., president, League of Women Voters of the United States__ Curtis, Kenneth M., chairman, Democratic National Committee__ Growe, Joan Anderson, secretary of state, State of Minnesota__ Page 1 283 357 214 345 131 331 118 124 418 417 348 341 82 394 396 342 402 401 246 229 420 Lewis, Woodrow, chairman, Election Law Committee, State of New 407 Lunding, Franklin J., Jr., Illinois State Board of Elections.... 405 409 Myers, Hon. Gary A., a Representative in Congress from the State of Pennsylvania. 406 Panish, Leonard, registrar-recorder, County of Los Angeles- 337 363 Tartaglione, Margaret M., chairwoman, Philadelphia City Commissioners, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.......... 335 Tiernan, Robert O., Commissioner, Federal Election Commission, "Technical Suggestions". 289 Tucker, C. Delores, chief election officer, State of Pennsylvania. 411 414 Interpretative Guidelines Implementation of the Provisions of the Voting Rights Act regarding language minority groups__ 96 Procedures for the administration of section 5 of the Voting Rights 104 Letters of Communication Beermann, Allen J., secretary of state, State of Nebraska____ 439 423 Bonker, Hon. Don, a Representative in Congress from the State of 418 Brown, Ted W., secretary of state, State of Ohio. 426 Budzinski, Michael, legislative analyst, Wisconsin State Senate.. 423 Letters of Communication-Continued Carroll, Jane, supervisor of elections, Broward County, Fort Lauder- Cummiskey, David R., State representative, State of Minnesota_ ture.. Fortes, Robert, chairperson, Massachusetts Black Caucus_ Page 437 442 214 438 437 Hatfield, Chet, auditor, Yakima County, Yakima, Wash__ 445 434 Klonoski, James R., chairperson, Democratic Party of Oregon__ 444 437 Lowes, Donald A., office of clerk, auditor and recorder of San Benito 422 Lynch, Alice Clarke, secretary, Voter Registrars Association of 435 Martin, Roger E., Republican leader, Oregon House of Representa- 444 Sendak, Theodore L., attorney general, State of Indiana_ Straub, Bob W., Governor, State of Oregon. 445 434 447 443 Wiggins, Hon. Charles E., Member in Congress from the State of 92 430 435 Yzaguirre, Raul, national director, National Council of La Raza---. Memorandums submitted for the record 445 Bell, Hon., Griffin B., Attorney General of the United States, "Review of White House Testimony on H.R. 5400” 59 Relationship between the proposed Universal Voter Registration Act of 1977 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965... 93 Newspaper and TV Commentaries— Akron Beacon Journal, March 20, 1977, “Don't Get Too Casual With 427 Akron Beacon Journal, March 22, 1977, "Where Will It End", editorial__ 428 Canton Repository, March 16, 1977, “Vote Signup Changes". United Press International, Washington, D.C., “Any Citizen Over 18 429 WTVN-TV, March 16, 1977, “Voter Registration in Ohio”, editorial_ _ Statistical Tables 429 Jurisdictions covered under section 4(b) of the Voting Rights Act, as amended.. 103 County of Los Angeles, Department of Registrar-Recorder, Election Voter Participation Rates in Other Western Democracies___ 340 293 83 UNIVERSAL VOTER REGISTRATION ACT OF 1977 WEDNESDAY, APRIL 6, 1977 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, COMMITTEE ON HOUSE ADMINISTRATION, Washington, D.C. The committee met, pursuant to notice, at 10:00 a.m., in room 2318, Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. Frank Thompson, Jr., chairman, presiding. Present: Representatives Thompson, Gaydos, Minish, Davis, Burton, Panetta, Ammerman, Cleveland, Wiggins, Frenzel, Stockman, and Badham. Also present: William H. Cable, Staff Director and Associate Counsel, Robert E. Moss, General Counsel, and Linda Nave, Minority Staff. OPENING STATEMENT OF CHAIRMAN THOMPSON Chairman THOMPSON. The hearing will come to order. We are beginning today a series of legislative hearings on H.R. 5400, the Universal Voter Registration Act of 1977. H.R. 5400 has broad bipartisan support. I have been joined in the original House sponsorship of the legislation by my colleagues, Representatives Brademas, Conte, and Whalen. Last year in what was a logical extension of electoral reform legislation going back many years, this committee reported and the House passed a bill providing for a national system of postcard voter registration. That bill, however, was not enacted into law. In my judgment the bill before us today is superior in both concept and procedure to postcard registration. This improvement is the result of a joint effort to rethink the approach to simplifying our voter registration laws on the part of the White House, particularly Vice President Mondale, Senators Cannon, Kennedy, Cranston, Congressman Brademas, and myself. We analyzed the experience of postcard registration as compared with election day registration and found the latter a far more effective and less costly approach to increasing citizen participation in the electoral process. H.R. 5400 is built around the concept of election day registration which has proved effective in the four States that utilized it in 1976, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Maine, and North Dakota. (1) Unregistered citizens who are otherwise qualified under State law will show up and identify themselves at polling places on election day. Their identity will be established and they may then register and vote. That is the basic thrust of H.R. 5400. Qualified citizens will be permitted to register and vote on election day. Additionally, we encourage registration between elections and provide a vehicle to administer the act and we provide severe penalties for registration fraud, a $10,000 fine and 5 years in prison or both for the first offense. I personally have been deeply involved at every level of registration of American voters for more than 30 years, from knocking on doors to serving as the national chairman of President Kennedy's 1960 effort. I am firmly committed to the removal of all barriers to citizen participation in the electoral process. That means a simple and honest system for voter registration. I think H.R. 5400 will accomplish that goal. [The bill, H.R. 5400 follows:] |