March 22, 1972

Sup Ct, in 6‐1 decision, declares unconst lengthy residence requirements for voting in state and local elections; Justice Marshall opinion says that '30 days appears to be ample period of time' for states to regis newly arrived voters; Common Cause estimates that decision could extend vote to 5.6‐million persons who were ineligible to vote in '68 because they had recently moved; case was brought by Vanderbilt Law School prof J E Blumstein against Tenn law requiring 3‐mo residence; Tenn argued that residence period was necessary to prevent voting fraud and acquaint new residents with local candidates and issues; Chief Justice Burger, in casting lone dissenting vote, cites '04 Sup Ct decision upholding 1‐yr residence requirement, saying that decision 'is as valid today as it was at turn of century'; Common Cause says that Minn is only state requiring only 30 days residence; NYS and 4 other states have 3‐mo residence requirement, and rest require 6 mos or 1 yr; residence requirements seen barring up to 8% of otherwise‐eligible voters; these voters seen having little pol impact because they are spread across country; decision could affect some coll communities by making it easier for students to regis and vote in local elections

US Repr Reid, whose family's involvement with Repub party dates back almost century, plans to switch to Dem party; supporters attribute decision to growing estrangement from Nixon Adm and prospect of difficult Repub party primary fight in newly drawn Westchester (NY) Cong dist; informed sources rept former Atty Gen Mitchell met recently with Reid in effort to persuade him to remain in Repub party; Gov Rockefeller acknowledges that he has discussed matter with Reid during past few wks, news conf; Westchester Dem Chmn Berking declines comment on Reid's intentions but holds Reid would be welcomed into Dem party; Reid por

Mar 22: Sen Muskie wins 63% of vote in Illinois Pres preference primary over ex‐Sen McCarthy, who gets 37%; with about 1/3 of conv delegate vote counted, 47 delegates committed to Muskie are leading in their dists and 21 delegates committed to Sen McGovern are leading in theirs; Muskie's percentages in preference primary are not as large as his mgrs predicted but are still enough to enable him to claim 'solid victory'; McCarthy hails his 37% as 'a significant achievement'; in Cook County and Chicago dists, McGovern backers apparently are voting for McCarthy on preference line, where McGovern is not listed; turnout in primary, state's 1st under new system, is among largest in last decade; Muskie's stakes in election are high because of his poor showings in NH and Fla; had slight advantage in preference voting in Chicago and Cook County because of his links with Chicago Mayor Daley, presence of large number of ethnic Poles in Chicago as well as fact that many conservative Dems remember McCarthy for his role in '68 conv; McCarthy entered Ill race with high ambitions and has repeatedly said that he is not interested in winning delegates; Daley's uncommitted slates face challenge at Dem Natl Conv from maverick Dem Councilman W Singer who charges that slates are illegal because rules forbid Dem orgn from openly backing delegate slate; primary is also compounded by recent Fed Ct ruling permitting members of 1 party to cross over and vote in other's primary; Daley and Muskie illus; Repubs do not hold preferential primary and all delegate candidates save 7 are committed to Pres Nixon

Pay Bd is considering broadening exemptions from pay controls, including reducing the number of workers whose wages are controlled and easing controls on low wage earners; bd takes up question of broadening exemptions partly in response to criticism that there have been liberal exemptions for businesses facing price controls but few for wage earners; officials say that discussions are still in early stages and that even if bd decides to widen exemptions, Cost of Living Council approval would still be required; 1 proposal is to drop all wage controls for employes of concerns with only a few workers; rationale for such a policy change is that wage rates paid by such concerns have very little inflationary impact and exempting them from controls would ease adm pressures on cos and on econ stabilization apparatus; another approach being considered is to provide low wage earners with a flat minimum cash increase allowed under controls rather than limiting them to gen 5.5% ceiling; proposals would be moot if labor decides to walk off bd; AFL‐CIO exec council and other union leaders will meet to rev labor's role in Nixon Adm's econ stabilization program; 1 option to be discussed is labor boycott of bd; Cost of Living Council dir Rumsfeld says that he personally believes that bd labor reprs will remain on bd, s, business execs meeting, NYC; in another development, Cost of Living Council discloses that it has asked IRS to investigate 17 cos with sales of $100‐million or more a yr for possible violations of price controls; concerns had failed to file qrly rept required of cos in 'tier‐one category', which are required to apply in advance for permission to raise prices

Task force of NYS Comm on NYC Govt Operations discusses effect of its proposed decentralization plan on public housing projects, NYC garbage collections and st cleaning