Suzanne Perry: A bipartisan decision in 1965

Regarding the Aug. 6 editorial “Voting Rights Act marks 50 years”: It has been interesting to read about the 50th anniversary of the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. From what has been published, one would think that the bill was passed with nary a Republican vote.

After searching diligently, I was finally able to find a tally of the votes by party. Imagine my surprise when I found that the bill passed the Senate by a vote of 79-18. The breakdown was 49 Democrats voted in favor of the bill, with 17 voting against it. Republicans voted 30-1 in favor of the bill.

In the House of Representatives, I found that the bill passed 333-85. The Democrats voted 221-61 in favor of the bill, while the Republicans voted 112-24 in favor of the bill. This sounds quite bipartisan.

It also appears that the bill would not have become law without the help of the minority party. Many years ago we had statesmen who would vote for what was best for the country, not what was best for their party. I long to see those days again.

This story was originally published August 10, 2015 at 4:42 PM with the headline "Suzanne Perry: A bipartisan decision in 1965."