A.P. offers House Panel Supports Bilingual Voting. Regarding action in the Senate, AP offers Sessions Wants to Extend Voting Rights North. This Washington Times report on the House vote yesterday contains this tidbit of interest to California readers: “Mr. Lungren said his alternative would remove certain California counties that are covered under Section 5 because of the presence of large military installations with large numbers of residents who vote absentee. ‘I understand the importance of this bill, but this is a 25-year extension, and I don’t think that this is fair to ask them to wait for another 25 years,’ said Mr. Lungren, responding to requests from members to withdraw the measure, which he later did. Some members, particularly Rep. Howard L. Berman, California Democrat, were intrigued. He said the proposal ‘does not appear to be malicious,’ but added that he would need to understand why the covered counties could not opt out under the current provisions.”