Voting Bill Is Likely To Wait

Advocates hope the bill will require limited floor time, a key issue because the Senate has so much other legislation to debate. Republicans signaled they were in no mood to let the voting-rights bill slip through quickly.

"It's a constitutional matter. We would want to spend some time talking about it," Stewart said.

Proponents say the measure is legally sound, because the Constitution gives Congress broad authority over the District -- including the power to create a House seat, they maintain. Legal scholars have differed on the bill's constitutionality.

Norton said yesterday that the delay is frustrating, "because we want to pass it now." She told the demonstrators, "I have every reason to believe that the determination of Mr. Reid's office . . . remains strong."

In recent weeks, bill supporters have been holding protests, planting "I Demand the Vote" signs on D.C. lawns and calling senators to urge passage of the measure. One of the bill's co-sponsors, Sen. Orrin G. Hatch (R-Utah), held a briefing this week to try to convince Senate staff members of the measure's constitutionality.

Nelson F. Rimensnyder, 64, a D.C. vote activist who took part in yesterday's protest, said he was disappointed that the bill would probably not reach the Senate floor before September.

"Delay is never good for voters in the District of Columbia. We've been waiting for over 200 years," said Rimensnyder, of Capitol Hill.

Carol Waser, 70, who lives in Ward 3, had a different opinion of Reid's decision: "If he's doing that in order to generate more support, that's a good idea. I would rather wait."

Ilir Zherka, the executive director of DC Vote, the advocacy group that organized the demonstration, wasn't ready to give up on a vote this summer.

"We are going to still look for opportunities to get it before they leave," he said. If the supporters fail, he said, "we'll be back."