President Bush on Voting Rights Act Renewal

From this press availability:

    Q Mr. President, some have questioned your efforts in having every vote count in the station, especially after the April 22nd New Orleans election. Now with that, what are you looking to do with the three sections of the Voting Rights Act that are set to expire in 2007? How are you planning to enhance those sections, because we understand that you want to study it prior to any passing of a bill by the Senate.
    THE PRESIDENT: I think I’m on record, as a matter of fact I’m pretty clearly on record, particularly at the Rosa Parks — signing of the Rosa Parks bill, that I’m for the extension of the Voting Rights Act, right?
    Q Yes, yes you are on record. But there is word that you want to enhance it, or people within your administration want to look at it to tweak it.
    THE PRESIDENT: I wanted to make sure the Voting Rights Act is strong and capable. I’m not exactly sure what you’re talking about. But my statement is my statement. The Voting Rights Act ought to be extended. The Voting Rights Act is a very important part of the civil rights legislation. Everybody ought to be encouraged to vote. Voting is a valuable part of democracy, and we want people voting.
    Q Do you think it was valuable in April — for the April 22nd elections in New Orleans?
    THE PRESIDENT: I’m not going to second-guess the federal judge. I was just down there yesterday, I didn’t hear much complaining about it, though, when I was there. And, obviously, it’s a more difficult election with people scattered around, but the state worked very hard to encourage people to vote. And I was with Mayor Nagin and Governor Blanco, and the subject, frankly, didn’t come up. That’s not to say it’s not on their minds. It’s on Mayor Nagin’s mind because he wants to win, he wants people voting.
    But the state bent over backwards to encourage people to participate in the mayoral election, and it looked like the process, given the circumstances the city has been under, pretty smooth process, which is not necessarily a given.

Share this: