EXHIBIT 40-VOTER REGISTRATION AND PARTICIPATION IN THE 1964, 1968, AND 1972 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS-Continued

EXTENSION OF THE VOTING RIGHTS ACT OF 1965

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 30, 1975

U.S. SENATE,

SUBCOMMITTEE ON CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS

OF THE COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY,

Washington, D.C.

The subcommittee met, pursuant to recess, at 9:35 a.m., in room 1202, Dirksen Senate Office Building, Senator John V. Tunney (chairman of the subcommittee) presiding.

Present: Senator Tunney.

Also present: Marshall Goldberg, chief counsel.

Senator TUNNEY. The subcommittee will come to order.

I am very pleased today to have Senator Barry Goldwater testifying on the Voting Rights Act. Senator Goldwater, you represent a district in which there are a substantial number of Spanish-speaking citizens and Indians as well, and I know from personal contact with your citizens in Arizona when I am there on vacation from time to time that you have a very deep interest in their problems, and so it is a real pleasure having you before the subcommittee.

TESTIMONY OF HON. BARRY GOLDWATER, A U.S. SENATOR FROM THE STATE OF ARIZONA; ACCOMPANIED BY J. TERRY EMERSON, COUNSEL

Senator GOLDWATER. Thank you, Senator.

I have asked to appear before you in order to address the several amendments pending in committee which would extend the Voting Rights Act of 1965 to persons of Spanish origin and other language minorities. I have no quarrel with the effort to assist the Spanish population or any other Americans in voting. My testimony will be brief and limited to making the record clear that we have not discriminated against these minorities in elections held in Arizona.

Mr. Chairman, the amendments presuppose that voting discrimi nation against citizens of language minorities is pervasive and national in scope. Discrimination, intimidation, and harassment are assumed to exist in any State or county in which more than 5 percent of the persons of voting age are of Spanish origin or of a language minority, if election materials were printed only in English, and if the registration or voting turnout was less than 50 percent in the Presidential election of 1972. Areas so covered would have to print election materials in the mother tongue of the minority group and obtain prior approval from the Justice Department for any changes in their entire election law system.

52-004-75-47

According to statistics I have been provided by the Bureau of the Census, this formula would cover 10 of Arizona's 14 counties, including Maricopa County, which county includes 56 percent of the State's voting age population. In my opinion, the formula employs a dubious presumption of discrimination for the following reasons: First, all of the statistics I have seen of voting participation by persons of Spanish origin are wrong. For example, the voting rate for persons of Spanish origin is put at 23 percent in the 1974 congressional elections. Actually, it is 40 percent, which is about the national average. What happened is that persons using the lower statistics do not take account of the fact that up to 26 percent of the voting age persons of Spanish origin in the United States may not be citizens and may not be eligible to vote. I think that is a very important point to remember. There are about 2 million people in this country who come from countries where Spanish is spoken who are not citizens. Now, they probably will become citizens, but they are not citizens now.

Results from the current population survey of the Bureau of the Census show that 40 percent of all Spanish-origin persons who were not registered in 1974 reported they were not citizens. With this group of noncitizens removed from the statistics, it means that fully 60 percent of all Spanish-origin citizens were registered and 40 percent voted in 1974.

Applying this same correction to the 1972 Presidential election statistics, the registration rate for Spanish-origin citizens is 60 percent, and the voting rate is 56 percent.

In this connection, I ask that a list of the numbers of noncitizens in the United States from Spanish countries who reported to the Immigration and Naturalization Service during 1974 appear in the record, and my assistant has just given the Chair the list.

Senator TUNNEY. Yes, without objection, so ordered. [The material referred to follows:]

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE,

SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC STATISTICS ADMINISTRATION,

Hon. BARRY M. GOLDWATER,
U.S. Senate,

Washington, D.C.

BUREAU OF THE CENSUS, Washington, D.C., April 28, 1975.

DEAR SENATOR GOLDWATER: This is in response to a telephone request from Terry Emerson of your staff concerning your need for data relating to the possible extension of various provisions of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. As you requested, we are providing you the following:

1. The percent of the population of voting age that voted in the November 1, 1972, Presidential election for each county in the State of Arizona.

2. The percent of the population of voting age who were registered in the November 1, 1972, Presidential election for each county in the State of Arizona. 3. A listing of Arizona counties with 5 percent or more of Spanish origin persons of voting age on April 1, 1970.

The voting age population bases used in deriving both percent of persons of voting age who had voted and percent of persons who had registered are consistent with our estimates for the total population of counties for July 1, 1972 and 1973 published in Current Population Reports, Series P-25 and P-26. The data on votes cast for counties were compiled from data furnished by Governmental Affairs Institute. Registration figures were furnished by the Secretary of State's office in Arizona.

I would emphasize that the estimates are preliminary and are subject to revision as more current data become available. Data on votes cast will differ

from numbers that might be obtained from other sources. The population of voting age is estimated and is subject to error.

If you should have further questions, please feel free to contact Gilbert R. Felton of my staff directly on 763-5072.

Sincerely,

VINCENT P. BARABBA, Director, Bureau of the Census.

Enclosure.

PERCENT VOTER PARTICIPATION IN THE NOVEMBER 1972 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION: ARIZONA

1 Preliminary and subject to revision. Total votes cast or persons registered as a percent of population 18 years and over 2 Persons whose origin or descent was Mexican, Puerto Rican, Cuban, Central or South America, or other Spanish. Counties with 5 percent or more Spanish origin of voting age.

Non-citizens in United States from Spanish-language countries who reported under the alien address program during 1974

Senator GOLDWATER. This total group of some 2 million noncitizens are included in the population survey made by the Census Bureau, but they cannot vote.