Representative Speedy Long of Louisiana represented a group of congress-people who did not think that the 15th Amendment gave Congress or the federal government the power to dictate "uniform voter qualifications" or impose a Federal registrar system on the states. The Amendment merely says that the United States shall prohibit the U.S., state, or local governments from denying citizens the right to vote according to their "race, color, or previous condition of servitude" (Hearings 1965: 717).

That prohibition, in Rep. Long's opinion, does not include the enforcement of new programs that should be left to the legislative processes of the states (Hearings 1965). Although many conservative Democrats at the time felt like the bill gave the federal government too much power over the states, the political climate was such that most congress-people welcomed the new, stronger federal powers.