Letter from Lani Guinier to Leslie Winner, Esq. RE: Johnson v. Halifax

Correspondence
May 29, 1984

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Letter from Lani Guinier to Leslie Winner, Esq. RE: Johnson v. Halifax preview

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  • Legal Department General, Lani Guinier Correspondence. Letter from Lani Guinier to Leslie Winner, Esq. RE: Johnson v. Halifax, 1984. d6bc4ce1-e592-ee11-be37-6045bdeb8873. LDF Archives, Thurgood Marshall Institute. https://ldfrecollection.org/archives/archives-search/archives-item/c5480529-0821-4aa5-a22e-c004d9c8ed2f/letter-from-lani-guinier-to-leslie-winner-esq-re-johnson-v-halifax. Accessed August 19, 2025.

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re Rcee. Rivers 
PRESS RELEASE Director-Counsel 

egal efense und Jack Greenberg 
10-15-86 Director, Public Relations NAACP LEGAL DEFENSE AND EDUCATIONAL FUND, INC. 

Jesse DeVore, J 10 Columbus Circle, New York, N.Y. 10019 « JUdson 6-8397 NIGHT NUMBER 212-749-8487 | 

FOR IMMEDIATE PRESS RELEASE 

LDF TAKES CASE OF 

ILLITERATE VOTERS 
TO HIGH COURT 

Argue Virginia Law Violates Voting Act 

WASHINGTON, D.C.--If a voter is illiterate can he, within the law, paste a sticker bearing the name of the candidate for whom he wishes to vote on the ballot in an election? 

The Virginia State Board of Elections says no; that such action is unlawful. 

However, this fundamental question was put before the U.S, Supreme Court today by attorney Norman C, Amaker, staff attorney for the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc, 

Mr. Amaker's argument is an appeal from the U.S, District Court for the Eastern District of Virgimia which upheld the action of the State Board of Elections. 

The issue arose from a 1966 general election for members of the 
Virginia House of Representatives. 

Numerous illiterates in the state, mainly Negroes, were made eligible to vote for a well known Virginia Civil Rights lawyer, S.W, Tucker, a write in candidate. 

To do this, they pasted a small gummed paper strip bearing Tucker's name on the official ballot under the names of the listed candidates. | They then made the appropriate marking by his name. 

Election officials refused to count these votes. 

According to LDF officials, the Board of Elections based its action on a section of a Virginia Code which permits insertion of names on general election ballots only in the voter's own handwriting. That selection of the code further states that ballots with the name placed in violation of the section shall not be counted. 

LDF attorneys hold that the Virginia Code section is invalid and is in conflict with the Equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment and also the Voting Rights Act of 1965. 

=30= 

NOTE: The NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. (LDF) is a separate and distinct organization from the NAACP, Its correct designation is the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc., which is shortened to LDF. 

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