960
Opinion of Stevens, J.
definition of the term "voting" as including " 'all action necessary to make a vote effective.' " Allen v. State Bd. of Elections, 393 U. S. 544, 565-566.
Despite Allen's purported deviation from the Act's true meaning, Congress one year later reenacted § 5 without in any way changing the operative words. During the next five years, the Court consistently adhered to Allen, see Perkins v. Matthews, 400 U. S. 379 (1971); Georgia v. United States, 411 U. S. 526 (1973), and in 1975, Congress again reen-acted § 5 without change.
When, in the late seventies, some parties advocated a narrow reading of the Act, the Court pointed to these congressional reenactments as solid evidence that Allen, even if not correctly decided in 1969, would now be clearly correct. In United States v. Sheffield Bd. of Comm'rs, 435 U. S. 110, 132- 133 (1978), the Court noted:
"In 1970, Congress was clearly fully aware of this Court's interpretation of § 5 as reaching voter changes other than those affecting the registration process and plainly contemplated that the Act would continue to be so construed. See, e. g., Hearings on H. R. 4249 et al. before Subcommittee No. 5 of the House Committee on the Judiciary, 91st Cong., 1st Sess., 1, 4, 18, 83, 130-131, 133, 147-149, 154-155, 182-184, 402-454 (1969); Hearings on S. 818 et al. before the Subcommittee on Constitutional Rights of the Senate Committee on the Judiciary, 91st Cong., 1st and 2d Sess., 48, 195-196, 369-370, 397- 398, 426-427, 469 (1970) . . . .
"The congressional history is even clearer with respect to the 1975 extension . . . ." 2
2 See also United Jewish Organizations of Williamsburgh, Inc. v. Carey, 430 U. S. 144, 157-159 (1977) (opinion of White, J.): "In Allen v. State Board of Elections[, 393 U. S. 544 (1969),] . . . we held that a change from district to at-large voting for county supervisors had to be submitted for federal approval under § 5, because of the potential for a 'dilution' of minority voting power which could 'nullify [its] ability to elect the candidate of [its]
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