Correspondence from the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights
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Title
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Correspondence from the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights
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Date
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1965-05-03
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Description
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The Senate debated whether the Federal Government had the authority to ban poll taxes in state and local elections. As introduced, the administration bill did not ban such poll taxes. On April 9, the Senate Judiciary Committee reported a bill with a complete ban on poll taxes. Senate leaders Mike Mansfield (D-MT) and Everett Dirksen (R-IL) deleted the provision and substituted one authorizing federal courts to determine if local poll taxes were racially discriminatory. In a letter Arnold Aronson, Secretary, Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, urged Congressman Arch Moore to support a voting rights bill that eliminated all poll taxes. Senator Edward M. Kennedy (D-MA) sponsored a floor amendment that restored the committee-reported bill’s ban on all poll taxes. On May 11, the Senate narrowly defeated Kennedy’s amendment.
