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Thursday, November 20, 1997
Garza urges local governments to bail out
AUSTIN (AP) -- Secretary of State Tony Garza, who says the
time has come for the state to be freed from some provisions of
the federal Voting Rights Act, is encouraging local governments
to take action themselves.
Garza has asked Congress to exempt Texas from requirements
that it first obtain U.S. Justice Department approval of every
election law change.
But he said Wednesday that there's another possibility Ñ
local governmental units can seek to "bail out" of the
law's requirements themselves.
The Virginia city of Fairfax recently became the first to utilize
a procedure in the federal law allowing them to bail out.
"Covered jurisdictions in Texas should follow the lead
of the city of Fairfax," Garza said.
"I urge every eligible jurisdiction to initiate the steps
necessary to put an end to over 20 years' worth of federal supervision
of election issues in this state," he said.
Congress passed the Voting Rights Act in 1965 to, in the words
of a federal court ruling, "banish the blight of racial discrimination
in voting."
Garza said he wants Texas exempted from the part of the law
called Section 5. It requires prior Justice Department approval
of election law changes in eight Southern states and Alaska, plus
some counties and townships in seven more states.
On Wednesday, Garza sent a memo to local governmental officials
around the state explaining the bail out procedure they can follow.
A political subdivision must meet several conditions to bail out,
and it must demonstrate to a three-judge federal panel that it
has met those conditions.
"Texas may have once needed federal supervision to ensure
minorities' voting rights, but those days are long gone,"
Garza said.
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Copyright ©1997,
Abilene Reporter-News / Texnews / E.W. Scripps Publications
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