COUNTY FIGHTS VOTING-LAW RULES

COUNTY FIGHTS VOTING-LAW RULES

Modesto Bee, The (CA)

January 16, 2006

Several California counties remain ensnared in a voting rights law written to stop anti-black discrimination in the Deep South .

Now, some hope to change that.

With lobbyists on board, and Congress preparing to rewrite the far-reaching Voting Rights Act, Merced County officials are trying to escape restrictions that have bound them for three decades.

If successful, Merced County no longer would need Justice Department approval for myriad precinct and ballot changes that precede every election. Merced County's campaign, in turn, could shake up things for Kings, Yuba and Monterey counties -the other three in the state that likewise are regulated closely under the Voting Rights Act.

"It's really costly to the taxpayers," Merced County Auditor M. Stephen Jones said, "and it's not accomplishing a single thing."

Through the Sacramento-based lobbying firm Nielsen, Merksamer, Parrinello, Mueller and Naylor, Merced County is eyeing relief through new legislation. That may be a long shot, though it isn't the only option.

ESCAPING CONTROL NOT EASY

Counties theoretically can escape Voting Rights Act control by meeting rigorous requirements spelled out in the law, but few have.

"It's very, very difficult," Kings County counsel Peter Moock said.

But others say the counties have no business trying to find a legislative escape.

"We think they should be covered by the law," said John Trasvina, executive vice president of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund. "If they think they should not be covered, they (already) have a process they can follow."

When written amid the civil rights struggles of the 1960s, the Voting Rights Act of 1965 targeted the Southern states that long had used poll taxes and literacy tests to impede minority voting.

The 1965 law specified which states and counties needed federal elections oversight. Since then, the rules have changed somewhat.

Nine, mostly Southern, states are covered in their entirety, as are counties in seven states. The four California counties flunk because fewer than 50 percent of eligible residents voted in the 1972 presidential election. This was a standard meant to capture states and counties that had erected deliberate voter registration barriers.

As it happened, though, each of the California counties was home to large military bases, including Castle Air Force Base in Merced County and Lemoore Naval Air Station in Kings County . Local officials say highly transient service members during the Vietnam War drove voter registration down in the 1972 trigger year; it has nothing to do, they say, with entrenched discrimination.

The Voting Rights Act requirements drew more attention than usual in August 2003, when California needed Justice Department permission to schedule that year's high-profile special election for October.

But even in the most routine of regular elections, Merced , Kings, Yuba and Monterey counties must get a Justice Department permission slip. Supporters say it's an important tool in the overall Voting Rights Act.

FEDS' OK NEEDED FOR EVERYTHING

Late last year, the Justice Department had the final say in local changes covering every- thing from the Merced Irrigation District to the Kettleman City Community Services District. Federal approval is needed when ballots change, or when new polling machines are bought. When poll workers are hired, their names are run by the Justice Department.

Objections are rare in California . Justice Department files show the last objections raised in the San Joaquin Valley counties came in 1993, with opposition to proposed Hanford annexations, and in 1992, with objections to a Merced County Board of Supervisors' redistricting .

While the Justice Department has received more than 120,000 submissions nationwide since 1965, only 37 objections have been raised in the past decade.

The battleground now will be reauthorization of the Voting Rights Act, which is scheduled for renewal by 2007.

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Bee Washington Bureau reporter Michael Doyle can be reached at 202-383-0006, or mdoyle@mcclatchydc.com.

Memo: LOCAL NEWS

Edition: ALL
Section: LOCAL NEWS
Page: B3

Index Terms: african american ; legislation ; vote

Dateline: WASHINGTON

Record Number: MOD_182BAA1E