Richmond v JA Croson Company Brief of Amicus Curiae in Support of Appellee
Public Court Documents
October 1, 1987

25 pages
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Brief Collection, LDF Court Filings. Richmond v JA Croson Company Brief of Amicus Curiae in Support of Appellee, 1987. 0d22ee55-c29a-ee11-be36-6045bdeb8873. LDF Archives, Thurgood Marshall Institute. https://ldfrecollection.org/archives/archives-search/archives-item/a0b297a9-b08b-4246-bcb5-edf4259f5e26/richmond-v-ja-croson-company-brief-of-amicus-curiae-in-support-of-appellee. Accessed August 19, 2025.
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RUFUS L. EDMISTEN ATTORNEY GENERAL fitate of Srrtll CIarolina pcparlmcnt of !luetirc P. O. BOX 629 RALEIGH 27602-0629 October 9, 1984 Gener The Honorable J. Rich Leonard C1erk, United States District Court Federal Building Raleigh, North Carolina 27611 Re: Gingles v. Edmisten; No. 81-83-CIV-5 Dear Mr. Leonard: Enclosed please find for filing the originll_ald four copies of the Affidavit of Robert W. Spearman, filed as a sulplemental exhibit to Defendants' Response and Mernorandum in'bpposition to Plaintiffs' Motion for Further Re1eif, filed on September 2'7 , 1984. I have provided Judges Phillips, Britt and Dupree with copies of the Affidavit. Sincerely, EDMISTENRUFUS L. Attorney JWrJr.:rc Enclosures ccs Honorable Franklin T. DuPree Honorable J. Dickson PhilliPs, Jr. Honorable W. Earl Britt Ms. Leslie Winner Ivls. Lani Guinier Mr. Robert Hunter General for EXHIBIT 89 NORTH CAROLINA WAKE COUNTY Re: Ginqles v. Edmisten; No' 81-83-CIV-5 AT'FIDAVIT I i I i i I Robert W. SPearman, being first duIY sworn, dePoses and says: I.IamChairmanoftheStateBoardofElectionsof North carolina and have served in that capacity since November 9, 1981; 2. I have read the affidavits of George A' Goodwyn' Chairman, Edgecombe County Board of Elections; Arnold L. Brown, Chairman, Nash County Board of Elections; and Nelda M.BertrandrChairwomanrWilsonCountyBoardofElections filed in this action as Defendantsr Exhibits 84A, 85A' and 86A on SePtember 2'7, 1984; 3.Iagreewholeheartedlywiththeadmonishmentsand cautions expressed therein with respect to the difficulty' if not irnpossibility, of holding an orderly November 6 primary election for members of the state House of Represen- tatives simultaneous with the statewide General Election i'n Nash, Wilson, and Edgecombe Counties; 4. I would especially expect difficulty in holding a primary on November 6 for the following reasons: o a) b) Absentee voting in the General Election began on SePtember 7, 1984; In each county, machine ballots have already been printed or are in the Process of being printed; l,lachine programming for a simultaneous general electj-on and primary would be terribly compli- cated, if not imPossible; If paper ballots were used for the purposes of conducting the primary election, the result would likely be confusion on the part of the voters and elections officials alike; The boundaries of election districts in the three involved counties are not yet known, and to require elections officials to famil- iarize themselves with new districts and to assign voters to the Proper districts by November 6 would constitute a probable impossibility, especially considering the fact that they are already in the midst of preparing for the regularly scheduled general election; Insufficient time would be available for either voters or candidates to familiarize themselves with new districts or, for that matter, with each other, and the time avail- able for campaigning in new districts would c) d) e) f) -2- have to be limited to such a short period that campaigning would be rendered nearly meaningless; (g) In some instances different statutory provisions apply to both voting and administrative conduct of general elections and primaries and would further complicate proeedures; for example, it is improper to cast or count write-in votes in primaries but it is proper in general elections and this might confuse both voters and officials; (h) In light of the fact that the state's upcoming general eleetion is predicted to be one with a record turnout of voters and one of the most highly publicized in the history of the state, an order by this court requiring the holding of an important primary election on the same date and at the same polling places would put unprecedented demands on elections officials, voters, and candidates alike, would threaten serious confusion and would accomplish nothing that eould not be better achieved by holding primaries at a later date and in more orderly fashion. (i) In the last three years voter registration in North carolina has increased from under 60t to more than 70t. Based upon the public interest expressed to date in the upcoming General Election, it is almost certain that more persons will vote in North carolina on November 6, 1984 than ever before in the Staters history. Based upon my three years of experience in training election officials and hearing and deeiding appeals from election contests, -3- I am seriously concerned that holding a primary simultaneous with the general election would cause widespread confusion for voters and numerous demands for reeounts and the holding of new elections. In my opinion, such simultaneous elections would, under all the existing circumstances, be extremely unfair both to voters and to candidates. Further, affiant saYeth not. Robert W. Spearman Chairman, State Board of Elections Subscribed and sworn to before me this tn"44 day of October, 1984' "'q,l$#.?.kr? : i *{r* ! : 7.. :', Pugttc j s A,rnij;::\T NIy Commission ExPires: 3-4- x z ? -4-