Correspondence from Greenberg to Guinier

    k+lo,*V C*sl.,hl,*- arn^d-vt (M /A\
280

On the occasion of the 15th anniversary of the Voting Rights Act, The Atlanta
Constitution investigated voting practices in counties throughout Georgia. Repo$ers
traced several 1980-campaigns- in detail, collected voting statistics and court docu'
ments reflecting the participation of blacks in elections in Georgia and the region,
and reviewed records'of the U.S. Justice Department's enforcement of the Voting
Rishts Act since its enactment.

fn a series of casestudy reports beginning today, The Conetitution will examine
how' blacks have continu6d to be kept out of ircwer in counties with majority and
near-majority black populations.

lupecr or Vonxc Rtcnrs Acr ox Buecr<s Elncruo ro Nerroxer,, Stern,
Courstt, rxp Crrv Orncrs rx Gnonctr

BITACI( 0tFlClALS lil GE0RGIA

Shle irgAlatuc
Cmgress 

--
SfiEte lhE

Rr
Ri

ad
blt
Jo
ul
cal

ha
an

Irg(
allr
Sor
Ca

I
ha,
in

I
sta
clo

(
Pet
odc
inr

I
terr
6ta'

T
196

tug
Vol

B
cler
par
ma.J

T
blar

u
@ul
has

N
mer

T
thiE
ute{

Ir
goer
day
oPPr
elec

ln
hour
ua€
to di

In
all b
the
frust
thar

Fi
Rom
U.S.
agai:

029
t211
0221

COUNTY OFFICIS

Gorrn,nS bdy

tx
ilgf ffi othrs

chl)

3.
8.
t6

0lc
6263
8425

Ii!UNlClPAt OFFICES

Cdmir oinefi

0.........

2........
6.......,

Examinations of fierce local campaigns show that racial bloc voting. especially
whites banding together to vote against black cendidates, continues to be the rule in
man)' aress oT the South. One expert on voting patterns in the region contends
theri still is "a race war over voting."

The question of the extent of raiid discrimination in the electoral proces-s takes
on renelwed aignificalce now because of scheduled congressional debatc in 1981 on
whether to ex6nd the Voting Rrghts Act, And the act, f,ue to expire in August 1982.
aooarentlv is in ieopardv.'ScleauieO to 5ec6me thairman of the SenatB Judiciary Committee in January is
Strom Tburmond (R-S.C.), onetime standard-bearer of the segregationist Stst€6
Right-s Party and a Iongtime opPonent of the Voting Rights Act.-Thurmond, *'hose
coirmittee i'itt trota bearings on the future of the act, has made clear his belief that
it rs "unconstitutional."

Nor long after he became pretident, Lyndon Johnson bluntly told his attorne-v
general. Nicholas Katzenbach, "I want you to writp me the goddamnedest, toughest
voting rights bill that you can devise.'

Ilu-bert Humphrey,'the vice president at the time, later recalled that Johnson
considered a law g:iving blacks'electoral equalit!' his most pressing piece of civil
rights legislation.

Johnson wa-s a<iamant. He told Humphrey, "l want all those other things-buses.
restaurants, all of that-but the right- to riote witb no ifs, and or buts, ihat's the
kev ''

221
6 137

4 231

4

69

r33



of the Voting Rights Act, The Atlanta
counties throughout Georgia. Reporters
llected voting statistics and court docu-
in elections in Georgia and the region,
epartment's enforcement of the Voting

s todav. The C;onstitution n'ill examine
i'f powi,i in counties with majority and

ICX'E ET.FTTED TO NAflONAL, STATB,
mcEs rN Gtoncre

IN GEORGIA

Slrh lrlELtute
Cmrcs 

---
Saue l{qEr

29
214
221

rncts

tfi

ifif ffi osGrs

cial)

010
6263
8125

OFFICES

Cdmii othds

1221
69 6 137

133 4 231

shorv that racial bloc voting, especially
:k condidates. continues to be the rule in
voting patt€rns in the reg:ion contends

'imination in the electoral process takes
reduled congressional debate in 1981 on
nd the act, ilue to expire in August 1982'

natc Judiciary Committee in January is
ardiearer of the segregationist States
he Voting Rights Act. Thurmond. whose
of the act, has made clear hi-s belief that

ndon Johneon bluntly told hi.s attorne)'
to writ€ me the goddamnedest, toughest

t the time, later recalled that Johnson
quality his most preasing piece of civil

v, "I want all thoee other things-buset.
iote with no ifs, and or buts, that's the

28i

On Aug. 6, 1965, in a ceremony in the President's Room just- of !lr" qpitol
Rotunda In washingron, Johnson 

-signed 
the bill he had demanded, The Voting

Richts Act of 1965.--f, ti" remarks on the occasion, Johneon noted that 95 years had passed since the

"a""tion oi ii,e 15th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution-suppoeedli guaranteed all
[irit " itr" risht to vote. As the first Southern presideni eince the Civil War,
Jitr""on kned well how literacy teds and other dirriminator.v devices were still
used to deprive blacks in the South of the vote.
-nThe tiire for waiting is gone," Johnson said. "The right is one which no Ameri-
can, true to our principles, can deny."--Al;"y" a praitical 'poliiician, J6hneon ligures that witb the vote blacks would
have m-ore of th"ir orrri repreeentatives and -also would "have every politician, north
and south, east and west . .beggrng for support."
-Ttre Voiing Rights Act prohib-itci the rise of Iitrracy t ft" io.the Sou.th as a

reouirement Tor v-oter regisiration. provided for use of federal monitors of elections.
ani required federal rertew of changes in etat€- and.locsl-votlng_Iaw-s in seven
SoJttr".h states-Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South
Grolina, and Virginia-as well- as Alaska and .portions of a -fes' oth-er states.--Firt 

"n 
year: aft1r its enactment, the voting Rights Act is often credit€d with

ha"ing beri" the mo6t effective of the major pieces ol civil rights )egislation adopted
in the mid-1960's.- Biacl voters and candidates have achieved enormous gains in most Southern
states, capturing hundreds of local and statewide offices and exercising considerable
clout in national political elections.-- of th" 

"sti-"t"d 
4,900 blach elected offrcials in the united states in 1980, some 60

Der@nt are in the south. In Georgia. where black elected ofticials were once
6dditi"r, there now are 237 blacks in elective offrce, and blacks are reg:istered to votc
in almost equal proportion to whitcs.- g"for" tb; Votina Rights Act, only 27.4 percent.of voting-age bl:cL.s. were regis'
t€red in Georgia: w-ithii seven yeari, -the registration Peryelta.gg for blacks in the
statf, wa6 up to 6i.E percent, less than 3 percent below that of whites.
-- 

E""n in lillssissippi, where only 6.7 peicent of voting-age blacks were.registered in
1965, black registriiion ro6e to over 60 percent by 1971- ;Ciearly, sribstantial progress has Seen made," the U.S. Commission on Civil
RlghG stirted in a repo'rt 6n voting discrrmination afCer the first decade of the
Voting Righls Act.-Euf""ei., 

as the trend of black political success has continued since 1965. there is
clear e"ia".rce that blacks in many area-" stitl are far from achieving full political
o".ti.ip"tron. A further look at tI're voting recor& of Georgia's 22 counties with
inajoriiv-black populations provides an illustration:- -fhe.i are M offrcials on the elect€d count)' commissions of Georgia s majoritl-'
black counties. Only 10 ofthem are biack.- 

White 15 of thesi counties have no blacks on their commissions, onlv one of the
counii"i ha.s a black majority on its elected commission-Hancock Countl'. *'hich
has a 73.8 black population.-- 

Not orr" oi the biack-majoritl. counties has a black sheriff, the chief law enforce-
ment offtcial.

The elections examined by The Constitution, and described in the s€ries of reporl'
this week, show a variety oi traditions, campaign practjces and government actions
used t perpetuat€ whitecontrol-even in majority black areas:__in 

Ctrir. C,ountr. a farmer seeking to becomL hii couqty's hrst black commissioner
s; to sieep the evening of the elition thinking he hds won, onll' to learn the nexr
E"i: ii,"t 

"' 
r"tia bloc 6f absentee ballots ha-. turned the election to his white

o"ironCnr. The contest this summer is a reminder of a factor still behind manv
eiictions in the South-racial bioc voting- tn fatiaferro Countl'. the countt sherifl and hls deput-* ride around-to black
households delivering'abeentee ballots and helpin8 vot€rF fiie them out. .Extensive
use of absentee ballois and 'assistance" to vot€rs has become a tradition thal serves
to dilute a black voting ma;orit1 .

tn pit<e c,ount.r-. a cLange in-the *'a1' school board members are elected makes it
.tlU,it-i-p*"lU)'e for a blick to be eleite<i. As with plnl. olhgr communriles around
the South'where biacks Iive in concentrated areas. black^.'chances for electton are
i.*i"rta b.r- iocal laws calling for candidates to be elected by countl's'ide-rather
than district-votea.

Fi""Uy-. two r€por1.q examine csres in which black candidates win election. ln
Bo-me.-a'Utact< Ls'voted onto the citl'commission for the first trme.onil after the
ij.S.'Srpi"." coun rules that chang'es in iocal electior, practices could-tiiscriminate
against'blacks-and the cit;- deviseia ne',r election method. In Hancock Countr'. an



282

overwhelming blach majority leads to black electoral victories, but black candidates
also show that no race has a monopoly on using dirty campaign methods.

The Voting Rights Act was not intended to g'uarantpe biack-. or anl other group
automatic election. Earlier this year, the Supreme C.ourt reirerated that no group
had an automatic right to politicai representatioD proportional to its numbers in th-e
population.

What the Voting Rights Act was int€nded to ensure, however, was racially fair
elections after what the Supreme C.ourt called "95 years of pen'asive voting discrim-
ination."

"What it is supposed to do is eliminate practices being used to assure that the
black community has a noncffective voice," eaid Paul F. Hancock, chief of the
voting section of the U.S. Justice Department in lilashington.

And both public oflicials charged with enforcing the Voting Rights Act and
private groups which monitor election practicec aSree that electoral discrimination
in the South remains a fact of life in the 1980s-and is a major factor holding down
blacL representation.

"In spitc of the progress, there is atill a great deal of diffrcdty in ensuring that
the electoral process i6 representative of the people it serves," said Bobby Doctor,
director of the Southeastcrn regional office of the U.S. Commission on Civi] Rights.

The commission has noted the "ample opponunit-v for abuse" of election laws
covering absentee ballots and voters who need assistance, especially afrcr the aboli.
tion of literacy tests added millions of new votere, many of them poorly educated.
Georgia Secretar-r of Stat€ David Poythress, who is charged with overseeing elec-
tions in the state, said recentlv that he "is concerned" about such situations where
"a person other than the voteimay know hou he voted."

Included in the Voting Rights Act is the requirement that statf, and local govern-
ments (in the areas covered under the la*'l submit for revien b1'a division of the
Justice Department any changes in voting procdures or votrng dutricts. The gov-
ernment body making the change mu6t demonstrat€ that the change wiII not
discriminatc against black voters and candidates.

Justice Department records show that almost 2,900 proposed changes have been
submitted from Georgia In ?8 cases, the Justice Department has objected to the
proposed changes as potentially discriminatory. The targets of the objections have
ranged from several statewide legislative reapportionment plans to the location of
voting booths in a private club which normally barred blacks.

Gerirgia has drawn more objections tharr an]' olher siat€ except Texas, which
came under the Voting Rights Act of 1975 when the act n'as amended to extend
voting rights to "language minorities," including Spanish-spe:rking Texans

But it oft€n is nothing so formal as the drar*'ing of election dlstricts that keeps
blacks from equal political participation; traditional Southern community relation-
ships also play a part.

"Black candidates have trouble getting black-s to re€aister because the_v don't want
to get involved in what they perceive t<, bt white man's business.' said Chrrs Caates.
an Atlanta larryer n'ho has handled several voting riglhts cases in court. "It's a
white-only game.

"The thing that stril<es me," he said. "is that -vou find almost no whire in a
position of $wer who will acknowledge that the system is exclusive. All people will
say is that if 'they,' meaning the blacks. would run a good one. he would be elected ''

Sherrill Marcus, director of the Atlanta-based Voter Education Projecr. has count-
ed a number of *'ays whites frnd to discourage black voters: Registration hours set
at a county eourthouse on)y during work hours; white bosses instructing their black
n'orkers hon' to vote; black candidates' belief that thel' will not be welcome cam'
paigning door-todoor in q'hitc neighborhoods: and the rarity of blacks sening as
poll watchers.

Said ?&yearold Arnett Richardson, who this summer tried to become the frrsi
black commissioner in southwest Georsia's Clav C,ountv: "I believe that a colored
person could get in there and do a goil iob. Bur some-of ?he colored peopie have
their brains washed iato thinking tha', the whitr man ie the onl_v one n'ho can do
anlthing."

BLACI( OFFICIALS IN SOUTHIRN STAIIS COVIRID BY THi VOIING RIGHTS ACI

i95r l97r 197!

?t )4i 20t

2t i3l 23:
3; l{s 33,(

29 lgt 327

8LA

llcrth &rdr
South C.rd;
Virgrnia.......

Iobb irt
mnaa.l dri

Som, ir t

Thb i

othcr n
1965. n
Chester

Fonr,
to bed t.
primary
the first

The n
him the
the whi:
gtill be r

"Somt
Richard,

The h
eon h.ad
while 4q
Richard'
a nearlv

Richir
absentee
dismissc
ballots e
voters

The cc
Fort Ga:
tainted
"There's
Shivers,
blacks."

Althot
ences. th
the.v har
candidat

lndeec'
and L. z
politrcal

Fiftee:
the Sou'
white ca
thel are

Onsl
far beic,
Georg:a
rule.

ln Cl,,
white. (
l98l. or
biacx pr'

More :

known ir



?e2

to black electoral victor

#*r*;:N'*r-;,s,*mftr
;.??:f,*Pru"Hlli,"|"#ffili#T",iffi ru.*
i*:"s"{r,;qTlx,LsY',,rff :x"}TtH:

ilrr"rus'dffi i[:;ii*'d.fffi ,,f;Ti*'

*I,r:'ffi:thl"ffin$giq.ffi
, w-Do need aasiatance. e6;

fi[:'--*{+T*#-$
is the requirement that

gH', jgx[1i{i+ii}t*"rr,"lnr4l;

,-g'Hffi ;ff*ffi itT,ftFm;:-i$

f if,Lfl:3j{m,ff*"d|#,n "rH}
fJl ;.si,l"'I5 "d,:irjlr 

"$HHtfuilil, Iffi
qh:t{H E*","ffi ,ltrs,v,?l}"d#r ;:Hl. several voting rights cases in court. ;.it-il

fh.,",#:l,xx [Y."q'..*, no white in a

f i;Bs;{:#k""r?"lTij;$l*r#,.

*ffi'#fh,ffi#,ffi:x{:nl#

n*'#1,?:=+#**$l"*li#t*,r
{TtS COYERED BY IHT VOTING RIGHTS ACl

1968 l97t 1979

24 I19 20s
2i t37 231
37 l{9 334
29 lgt 327

283

gl.Acl( 0FFlclALs lN SOUTHERN SIAIES c0vERtD By IHt v0TtNG RtGHrs AC'T_conrinued

r95t lgx 1979

Elh Carolina

Sortt Carolina..

-]S, ffirY;rffJliti':,Pressm€0, sitte repra*nbtnres, clectd cunt, or*r, r*rioin t. s.r,rr u.7i6c ar.t ,o
srllt s u* Ilrthrl R6tu ot BLd thct d oflinb p{OaGd !y tte t il Cgltu ,o politirt Stuhs m Wasbiigtm

l0 158 240
ll 116 222
24 63 83

lFrcm the Atlers Constitution. Dec. g. l9g0l

"Recrel Br.oc Vouxc" Krrps Elpcnox Rrsulrs Lrly_Wxmu
Thu ts th.e second m.rl of a serizs etaminine el.ectotal 

-prctliges tn Georpa andother sectiorls of thc $uth ii i;; af6; ii;';;*Ti;iri;";;;U'i*7:";";;:n"dLih*iiiti";tr,:trtlf!*ryr,::;tr:y,:il;L{
chater Goolrick. paur Lrcberman and x"i'viitti.-iii,;ri;";;;i:;;;' Ttaday.

Fonr Glrxrs.-1['hen Arnett Richardson. a ?s-yearold clay county farmer, went,,H_,.h:_li-glt_of Aug. 5.he was almost certain-hJr,ia .'-oi''tr,'"'ii"'u,.'ii-o"rrticprimary ror count)'commissioner. in his di'trict Irhe *on. he tne-i.iiwouta ueihe first black commissio?er in this rurar sorth;ot c""."i, 
"oi"iij. 

-' "-
The next mornins. Richardson got a tetepr,on;-;"il-i;; I"frii'*ork". who tordhim that abaentee Earrots riaa s*u'nith;rdili#f*'irilAp",r;;i, #;;";, crozier,the white incumbent. Despite a cleir majoriiv llactr population. the county wouldgtill be ruled by an all-whi-te commission.
"rbme woman called and told.me that I won. but that I lost the absentee ballots,l,Richardson recalled in a recent interview.
The final tabulation of vot€6 cqFt at the polls on election day shou, that Richard-aon had received r40 votes to crozier's tsg, i-;r";"ote margin of -victorv. However,ylile na people-had voted by'absentee bailot-ioiuror,"r. a mere five had vored forRichardson- Ric-hardson,.it trirned out. laa ueen'aereatea'ut ,i'riJ":riir" uiTil,ts cast bv

', H::t'J,i3l{ :lr.,:lJiii'Hi"a, .;,,;,.,,n" ",*,,", ro coun, "rr,*r[',r_absentee ballots that sriung the etectlon-i.iirr"'ir"or of his opponent The suit wa-sdismissed. arthoush the jidge found evidlnc" oi;;i,i"giir.il#i1y'ii, '*'i," or tr"
lill"f *o orderdd the rriai-prob;F:idii-iii p;'s";h;'.;;;ii -u, "r*""qualified

The controversv over the prlTar} l.eft bitterness on both sides in CIar. eeunly an6Fort Gaines. the-countv sgq! u.".v;i;.k"-;;;; convinced that the erecii;; ;*:tai:rted. by corruption.- whire. ;+riie-;ff;"i;;Amantl-r. proresr rheir innocence."There's been nothins. absgl-qtely ";ihi;;-;;ied about it., said Mrs. Mickie
f,Xi",:S, 

the probate 5iage 'iwe--tir* i,oi'i.i"a"ln .n1. ,n.., to ao 
"r,5i.ning 

* tt"
Although the citizens of crat',count-r,sa1'the1.are seeking to resolve rheir differ-ences, the lesson of the recent 'electlon-hi.-been-disjllusioning 

ro manr. blacks. whatthe-v have learned. thev say. is ttraibioc "oting-itit". voting exciusivelt.for whitrcand idates -ha-s made'it 
"iarly im possiir" i.. irr.G ri ;;';1ft ;H;;:'' r "

It4""d' racial bloc voting.rimaihi; fni-;ilidfr,.rrsi;oJ';;*i'o'i tr," south-ar,,q .18 .a 6njor reason braiks.in ;;l';;;;;;iti* i,r'""-i"t"il"..r,i".i1 the fulrno!!;9al parcicipation promised by the Voiininiih. ect of t'965rrrreen vears arter Da-$sage of,the Voting-RigLrc Act. rrot", itrdio conducted inthe. south. shos that'whites. almosr *ith"our liceptron. still vote exclusiverr forwhitp candidates. Blacks, meanwhle t",d'iilof,i,i*.iiir roi6rr"l*".l,iiid;;';h;the-v are on the ballot-but usud)1: noi-iitir. sl?," 
"oria'uioc. -. *a-ii..l'--"On a practical levei. the racial votrngf;;;;';*" tr, keep bia*i. represenrationfar belos the black DroDorrron.gi pl[ i"liiidiioi p'"n in mo* of the other 2]Georgra counties 

"irh' ma:crriti uii.i-i"iririi-"'ril.'rririr* comm,.sloners conrinue ..rule.
,Il Clgt gnd 14 other black rna.iorit-v counries. the countl commrs.sions are allwhite. of the 84 commrssionerr-*h'o wiir r".r"'&o.rra's brack majoritr countret in1981. only t0 arc black tn.onll:;;" ;;;;.::E;.nct;k "*[i.i^rrt""'i'.li.ip"r""n,

bl19l population-do.blacks hold a maioniJ,-irf 
"ori*ioion Eears.,,rore rundamentalr\.'. though, voting statisticF onlt' underscore whal is intuitrve.lr.known in places suchG ctaf c"r"i".' 

v'rr! urrusl*urt wrrat E rnl



284

of Vermont political sociologist who has etudied voter
: !!1 the matter bluntly. Ge-orgia, t"EiJ, ii- frif 

"fa race r*,ar_over voting' aounds Cccurate.,,
l^19*d tborgia have provided steady reminders s;)tmg over the vears:
diftrict of Stcwarr Countl. in soqthwest Georgia fwithesidents black, Stewart is another of tfre sGL:s A
I HI*r:_Ptl!! I.n ,.noaposed io a.i-gri'prifr..y* r".Lne Bchool board seat. Ulcontested electlons dd aot
$: ^T 

df *:^-Tly .s8 peopl e 
"hoteq 

u p to 
-,iiii 

ii, ts"uauted, Dowever, it wa6 reoorted that a white candidaterin the election. There'were; black';;il;;;;"*
s in black neiehborhoods of a *rit+in cr,l.paig:n, thewithheld from the black,community on eldctfrn'day.rorrD out- by the crourts because tt6 *tit Gii&t"rotice-of his write.in candidacy * ."qri"!a-6y-t t"r candidate won by lg voles.

"rE!fi;.%,11'S"ffih*t,ffi 
"rTa,'&%"ffincumbe-nl white achoot r.rp";i"k;a;;t]'i"liiit"

t;'iilqffi ir", f :l #ffi is;,la#H ;ili,'
F,H;liJ,::f, :,-liii"?rlllf"tHiiil'di,lftr*T
r'_?Stt*"!i}i"""".",r!*",r:f ti*:Hiin,*rom white voters'vot]{rg.patG.".'ii*!illi.,
ack candidates show that. blicli -canaiJaL -;;;,i".
f^_T 1!"* are blacks registered t" ,ot", o. ,..;;,,
f afffrT n' #fi ],trd"ffi :Lff T# ;i,"tr#
Iffif,ffi il1,*,',H',ril,i"t]3'*.?il$iffil"ti#
t?;.r,i.,f "r*" that. I tr n ot ter r ini' Il"-;*;Ii'iH8
{ l}f"d in his campaign to become the first blact
:k 91y Crcunty. He vriitea every black residence ia:n.]T)vers, rought) speaking, the northern end of tbep-r[n peanut and other ro$. crop farms. The di*rict
rid he. decided to run for offrce because he believedrot 9oing anyrhing for the- 

"o"stituJrrcy 
'i; 

;;il _

at his amall, com-fortable house nine riit;; fi',th';ut the condition of the county,s ;";d;. 11 ;id;,i;) waE concerngd gb"rl the pioblems of the colot
?t:.9rl-l:T rn,thr-s district are so nar?ow end r€4.o r,rle people who are in town are scared to oo@

I\Sy -. hrs d-istricr, whire or black, but he car-racx aectrons. He believed it was useless to trv to
.tte tned it a couple of times. The fer* whltei herittal.

im and.he.aeid., 'I'li consider it,' ,, Richardson Baid_
LOe Ol Eunrng."
lection-went to court, Richardson,s attornevs chet.Jlot€ lued-b)- whit€ voters. ln one case, a'formcr
P. trgm Mi-qhigan, where she had lived ior sevenl, lrved m j{bqn_u., Ga., for E€ven -vears had voted il
y]19I1 o, tsufauta^Ata., voted absentee but forga
:.mof,her to sign it for him.
nor (-burt-Judge Marcus Calhoun Baid that then'ro asked the count]- reg:istrar to ,.reexamine,'th
rtances r'here votes had been challenged. Ju{:runt)'

285

absentee ballot-s filed by *'hites for the white candidate were repre*ntative of theDattern.' Richardson, wh9 has the sine*1' build of a man who- has worked outdoors all hislife, disagrees with the c-ourr deciiion, but is detcimi;;;; ;i;i'i, d;;;r,i;;i6id ih,i';;;;'"i th;61;;k'";t^:,;:iiL discouraged,,, he said Iffi I:T"
*fl"i",J:st'I.i,',t%,iJii:'."1:TJ*,,i*#*.,$*ffii"y;##",**H[i
have been brainwashed
anvthing "

,.1.:":,:",Fid'#f{riilif'1,*n,& Y,fffllf'Jf;iii",,rJ,,# l}f*,;ffi1 , eociorogist
T1,ocir-*r,it" .,idid.t".-... . Fciri,oid Ei"g identified as auie6 *ffin"i',t"".tr
inrerests," he wrote, "so etlhough almost &;ry- i,ht""*"-tf iaii. ;;T"r'
ippeaiaices in btaci c-h",;h;,-i;"iii;i; i; rt ;".,;r fiil;rrffi;;.:it?E"i*yii emerged in Mississippi."- Loewen continued: "For blach candidare., white bloc voting haq a chilling effect.stsre$ide aspirants know ahead of time ttit it"y have norE"i"r,i"i,Jldr victory.
Local candidates cannot. overcome the monotithii;hi;,i'"t" ii,ir""f '6ii"ii 

are in abearr population majority. Hence thev someti;"6 ao 
"oi-.unl'o'.*iiih6,;;, ih";

m1). attract little enthus.iis.m, for the Ulack etectoiat 
-"6-k;;;.4;;[i

sratistics show that blacks-vote overwhelmingty loiutacl-candiauE]i"t 
"ot 

,"consistentlv as whites votc for white candida-tE 
'L"_;;;"fil;'iiTiiri"rippi 

,Datrzrn of bloc votine among blacks, but itii. iat" 7'p""ilii-u"-ro":'ii".t in thel,hitt population."
"It is at least theoretically po*sible," he wrote,,,that.blacks could respond torhiir bloc voting bv bloc votinj themserves Just as'stffitl.-fi,"t a-iri,,i'tupp.o.,'He speculated that "racial palriotism,' might be-w;[;;ft;iltffifi, h;;eaa,"Intimidation is a factor.

-Tq sory:. degree, tradr,tion play: q part. Blacks-a1 lss{ in rurar areas-are often

$":u{,!liff ffi?}:$iff T,?t;?;ifffilriii,HF#ik1?;i:r*:5;"ffi
often believe their vote is not eecrel.

And the white candidate may be the black voter,s employer or a friend of thebcs.
.ln clay.c,ou.nty, a young black nlan named &tdie Ricks claimed that he lost his

*i,ld:*,'s"ffi i'J,'ffi,-$9ru8ffii*?*iiiit"-'6ir''hi'i;o11";-b6kbc;b";i ni;k6 G; ft B,i., t;,t ;ii;[;;t*;'ifi t$TT*ry#Sff3#"rJffi
rorL ever since. He now speirds his days it 

"an-g 
o" tl" .iL"t""H"iti"g ro.esional day labor.

-- i'Durr"g the day .of the erection and the day aft,er, peopre said there was eomething foul going on," he said. "This s'as tt" ii."t1fi" fti,i;yt;):'irla 
"1"1""e"altJeoplre were afraid-of Ioeing their joUs, Vou-unae.stana ,'

Fort Gaines is made up.ofa smait cotlectlonofliue-oak-llned streets and a fewoall stories. To sav that tE tg*l hrs 
"n 

u"tu.riA 
"i;;;"e,"i"Gt"*tt" "*,e an-v given aftern-oon. t..r,. L iio"ra;J;[;f';". sGna on iil;"-;; talkingHIy among themselves.

It is Ricks' contention that the d-epressed state of-the economy in cray c.ounty canbe partiaily attributed to.the.al-whitc ;ul;.-whit€'f*;;;';l,.",,i.""ft'.Ii,]"o.t ,aoclurage new industry in the.area because thi'competition r* iru"i ,riisyr a.i.,*up wases. At present, the onrv iobs to be had ;il*-a'*i; ;;; TilE peanut
Fgcessing fqctory at the edge oftoiwn

Rpls said he believes thit- if black were elected to offrce in clay countv thevrould make a stronser pugh.for industrl ti,""..; w" ; bfi;L ;;ji;jir'ii;;#;
ruii.n::r"iiru"l#l"ni,f "r,.H"'ilHf*,;p",,n{tiii}tai',"#dfl J,:lboerd at the court house.'

}1"j"r..jj5_?-yT_"n:h.oJ thalracial voting patter-n-s eeen ir the South do notgm: -_'l1o:cy-T_!l,q I"*| D, r^oe*;n 
-&if 

" 6rir*ili,&hate ilil "#JtTut$ty cgo 
"_Iq+it" 

geils to soH$:;F"rif 6&ff I ji"f.i'"qgffi 
f LTlIi"il"SirXliS,:.s

3ir:ii{:,}_:r"[[1ffi "r"&"1*l"t'"ii#""#*,9",*'sffi i"Jl.}il"gtf*:::. -gl,]if: !rq! "oting a5ra ; p., . tr"lp"iiL.1Tji,flrfi'J!,"Yfii,ffi ffi [l33Tti:'1,^tL"^J"g-"_niimbe,-or-*hiL-;L;;;*";f"r'#il"a";'fr ;?l*:-.:9,:l*ti*-,Liaf ?{:,.q";!,i,!#ff 'fi ,qi*8".ffi ""ffi#"olli,"rr,tcumenr potiiicai-camay to determine ho*. the races voted in the eecr,C. here assumed thar the preponde.ate ;ilG-e ffi#1l,HJ#TJffiffi i;Hf; :ff"H"x:l*:xI;&,*-;?,t"itttTffi ffi:



286

races in votes ca-st at the polls. only to lose seve-n of the races to an avalanche of
i,ifiit '"UiJ"-G,e-U"ltotr. t.itit .""6, however, the result gas thrown out. after a
;;;; "il;[;; *ii"" oz oi tt e aU"entee balio6 were ru]ed -to -be .illegal ln an

!i*ti"r"'ii'fl1i v;it;y. e;., ihiee black candidates lost run-off elections to *-hites
i;i,l'rj-.iZ.i'.li"rt". t""ttoi"-well over twice the total from the earlier--general
.t.ciion-tioped the outcome. A suit charged that blacks "were not cit5 officials il
il';i;i;, I55"irJtiti"rc-simli"til; to thE c)av countl case the court ordered citv
;fffii;ii'ffi;;';iri;;';L";td uriloG to non'iesident-i but declined tc set aside the
election.

il'Cj;r Countv, ruling white offrcials said the;- believed the disp-utc .over their
*ti"'"-i'i. ttiJ a"irrd-ol :uii " Jew- dlsgluntled pfunlg, and not a reflection of trueeteciion-"'a-. the d'oing of iust a fe* d_isgruntledlpoplg, and not a reflectron ol true

;;.;';;i"ii"r;-i; Ci;.!: c"G1) Earl Dalvis, the Clav g"ltv.t'+. c.otn'..i""':1r'l Ti
election v"a-s the doing
race relations ln Ulav (bunty. Earl IJavrE, tne ura)" 

-L/Juilt) -tu. sulrrtlrsrv
ii,"-"Li"rr"" Uallot clerk, refused to be interviewed. But in declining' he comment-
:;: ,-:;,--i;^... -r..r olt 'tii" iit tr'. enot.her one of vour damn civil rishts thincs.";i: 'ry;;'ffi";;h*ai';ii''th;l;ilJi anolt"' one. of.vou.r damn civil-right" *-89 ": ,,You know what all this is? It's another one ol-you-r damn cl\rl .rrgnls urlrltE.

fuesaur:; The Constitution: How whites get the black votc in Taliaferro (bunty.

Pnovrstoxs or 1965 VorrNc Rtcnrs Acr

Here are the major prot,isiors of the voting Rights Act of 1965, amcndd by'

Congress tn 1970and 1075:

Suspends the use of literacy tests and other devices as qualifications for voting in
ant election in the United States-'8iliei'it;;t--ilsiae.ci requirements 4o r_,gt.prohibit citizens from voting for

"...ia"ni-*d 
vice presidint airy-r*'here in the United Stat'es't'F,;;:,,id;i;'fJ"iiJ.onirotrbver state and local votinS-Practices in areas *'ith a

hiitirv of literaq' t€st^6 a;d iow voter turnout, the grounds. u-sed to cover eouthern
;di;.] ;h;;;'iinv Ut".t'--resident-" were be!-ng pr?ventqd. from-voting. (Covered

ifr"ir"rii:'*"r"-iir""""ti."'rtt Joi Alaba-a. G.eoftia, l,ouisiala' Mississippi, South

C;F;ii;;:;;;\'l;;il;."ra oo 
"r 

the 100 counties in North Carolina: also covered

""iL.'it"-r.ovisiSns 
o'erelhe state of Alaska. and single counties. in Hawaii and

idil; S"ril-ri"r" trt" since been dropped from coverage. s'hile other6-m*t
notablv Texas-have been added.t""F.r-iiai"?i". f;L;f ;;;*;rs to register voters and observers to watch voting in

"l;;; ;h;;; there have-t&n rtt.eatio". of racially-oriented- voting .irregularitie.
"''nl'""iH'fiAt;Jr;;;"J;T.ni ""ttr"g"r in state ind local laws which may alIect
,.i;:--;;il; *f,JrI"t*tt"ir-di"t.ict ""." redrawn, polling places are moved, or
;;;"fu ;;;iaJ'ii', L,i Jhafi"e its voting populaiion-ln- local ities covered bv
the law'.-"if"iuiro 

the use of languages other than English in some localities with signifi-
cant numbers of people who speak foreign ianguages

LB) Ceur.nn VonNc Lew e TntuuPs

Excerots frcm Prcsident Lyndon Johr*on's remarh-c at the signtng of the Vottng
Rtgn,"s Act bn Aug. 6. 1965.

:Toduu is a triumpb for freedom as huge as an}' victor-r' that's ever been won oD

"nr'[Iiii"fria.'y;i'.19 ""ir"-ii,"-.""",ni-of 
this iay *e-must_recall darker times-'Iff,.i* 

"i,d " 
t"iilint*i". aso the fiit Negroes irrived at Jameston'n They-did

not ,iii""-tn Ur;;;rhip. l;;"ir1h of a home lor freedom. They- did not mingle fear
and ior' in expectaiion thal in this neu' world anlthing would be posslble to a Eran

st.oig'enougli to reach for it--,.1'tiur 
came in darkness and the] came in chains. And toda5' we strike awal' the

Iast maior shackle of those fierce and ancient bonds. . . .':.J.f.,L'r.t'ito*-. f-,n ".i"ur and simple wrong. Its only purpose ls to.right tliqt
u.rone. Millions of Americans are denied the right to votf, because ol therr 610r.
i;;.'i";;ii;;.ui"1t".n the righr to vote The irong is one *'hich no American ir
hi;;;;;;l;;ii].-Th; iight"is one which no AmErican, true to our principles'
can denv."-i;rjl"ii, were rhose who said smaller and more gxadual mtasures should be tried'
but thev had been tried."-':f;;;;;;-. !"a"y..o tr,"-v-. had been trred and tried and tried and thel- had failed

""a 
i*tit and fail'ed. And tle time for failure is gone.- thti"." *"." those who "iid thut this is a mai.r'-sided and very complex probleP

Bur hon'ever viewed. the denial of the right to vote is still a deadl-'- wrong 8I,|d the
trme for injusiice Lc gone."'::i;i; 

"ci 
* ,or "iiii a victory for Negro lead-ership, this act is a great qhattqng.e

which cannot be met simpll- b1 proteslc and demonstrat,ons. It means that (leoF

cated lear
responsibi
sibilities r

"It is di
to bend k
any'where

"But t}
crumblinl

"It i6 ri
been lifts
i6 that. It

\{hen tl
Right Ao
evidence r

suspiciou.e

Troua:

Thi
and o
Rl4.ht
brcti
The at

Chlmo
vesrold bl' Bolton r
his tin-roc
ning to vc
planning I

But C.on
about his

A week
ain't never

necslliD
with his v
him, eome

0n a tri
rural Geor
vot€ cam€
IGthryn I
was who t
two men (

hinr. "I air
It was ir

mon and (
the Voting

Fifteen '
Taliaferro'
Despite ha
eStrmat€a
public offu

ln this
countres ir
it1-black c,

Just as r

lachniquer
negatiorr-l
rith succe

Here rn
been the :

rmpact of'
by blacks t



286

. onl-v to lose seven of the races.to an avalanche 66. case, ho\f,'ever, the result was thrown o"r "iil]-i:"'ffi :ffi ,::i';;*nlHi{#,::,,tllCi[]*"
trl**itrif [l[Si*=i]*"a;5]t{iH- 

b;i'i o; ;-; ;;:i*;;tj offidJH!8il ,xitf".,fi

6I',j6;,{t'Hffi:H,iH{i**r":f Hi
11 90 be interviewed. But in- declinine. he c"r,i_l'
;* ffi,t!.i:ff i'J,:ii smT"rift#x u'#l
rs or 1965 Vorrxc Rtorns Acr
s of the Voting Righ* Act of 1965, amendd b1

xts and other devices as qualifications for voting in
rements do not orohibit citizens from voting forwhere in the UniGd States.

".":11af_ll9.lrrcpl voting-practi_ces in areas with a

^"-o11r_:^1?tu-t, 
the groun&" used to cover eoutl-;

iiEiti:"r.*1f{rffiffi t;,"yff ir'-Jrffi ;r
F^T_ 

ol .1l*Lp, -and si n gle 
"o"ntie. 

- 

tn E;-*;i "#d
Deen dropped from coverage, while others_mii

,,P_Iffrur.voters,+nd observers to watch votins in
I j:gilfi t'J;'.t'g'#r'i*F,"1?iT.fu :[Hi'-:'"*grstrrcts are.redrawn, polling places i* ;;"r;.;g:ng lts votrng population-in localities 

"ou"."d 
U'j.

,other. than English in eome localities with signifi_k foreign lancu;ces.

m Vonxc Lew r Tnrurrpx
n Johnson'.s remarks at the sigaing of the Vottr4

m-as.huge-as any victory that,s ever been won onmqanr,Ig oi.thrs da.v we mu6t recall darker timJ
) rne lrrst xegrogs arrived at Jamestown. Ther. didn or a home ,or treedom. The_v did not minsle-fear
.s ner.r' *,orld an_r.thing would -be 

posslbte to"a -ii
rey,came in chains And today we strike awav theino anctent bond6.
rd si'?ple wrong. Its only purpose is to rishr tharl.oenred tL: nght to vote because of thefr color.rt to vote. The *'rong is one which no e-"ilcaoG, one whlch no American, true to our principles.

aller and more gtadual measures should be tried.

ry_l l1$ and tried and tried and thel had faited: ,or lallure is gone.
i.tnrs ls.a manr'-sided anci ver1, compiex probiem.
rne rrgh: t(' votf, i6 stili a deadl.r s:rong'and the

or Negrc leadership: this ao is a great challeneelrorest^s and demonstrations. It meanr that <ieii.

287

ffiEpi{i1tiff ffii'it'",-:i'ffi ,:r,:,',5.*:":ffi : j;
g,Tii,l"if ,i"'il,l,B1i,*Xt;fr"'n t" g,.;t-rt m"i" "';; #;';;i i,:*ii.i
- rBut there is aln'ays room for understandinc toward those who see the ord ways
crgmbling ?l-d,to.t1.,9rn. to4qy I say simpl-v thG:'lt-ilust come.

"It rE ngnr rnar rt Ehourd- come and when it has you will frnd a burden that hasDen lifted from your shoulders, too. ti is noi iiriil
;;fui-ii * tt "r'-en .i".tiir.;" i;iiii Jrr?["i& HTg?X":tr?ilt,, 

although there

Vorrxc
when the U.s. commission-on civir Rights reviewed the first decade of t

*Ii*;li'$E$e1ffi ,'trx6'?-d;##"r##i1s,d*H"#[
ospiciously at the large n[mber of white-a&ntee 

"oGrs'ci.iiir"a"il blacl.,,
[FrcD the Atluts CoEtiturion, Dec 9, 1980]

Tnous* Ir Teuemnno: AssnNrrr Beu.or Asuss KEup6 wnrrps Ix orncr
Thb iE thz thitd prt of a seri.a aaminin4 ektoml prnr:ticrr in &orgiaord-other 

'*ti,,ns ,f :!*'S;n-lS yii''iit", ute enactncnt of the V
4?nu 

- 
A 

" 
i 

- i/*i {p i' .in" e,*; i; ",;";' ",,Hn 44 ard ut ri t te i b,. A ;:mc.o ru t i t u t i o n s ta ff u ri tc rs c hcs te r Ga r n" i, 
- 
Fa 

" 
t i ;i r*";' ;;; i{" { iry, u ir,.The serizs contii'ues Wbd"6d"i.

chewrono.-one dav lagt summer, the aherifr crme to Bee Arthur Bolton. The 6?-turold black man wai not erpecu"ri i-i;;*i:' '
totton was oontent to spend his retirement daya rocking on-the__wooden porch ofhis tin-roofed house in thi quiet Taliaf;;;-ab;ty _count-ryeiae.-He-i-af'not pran-ains to vote for sherifr Doniey combe in i$ ewr li-prfiffi h'ili,? was Dotptranning to vote at all.

.'*rffitY'#*i&l,,pHfl*$ll,T,ruH*=:'m?#rH#,.Hi
A week later, Hallford

rin't never done nothin' to me,', Bolb; 8ail iat";.
Becalling the incidenr. however, Brib;;";i;; that he wa.6 nor entirely preaeedrith hi' vote "As lons a6 ro-"uoayiGy,;-;tr;;ir;;**1";;i;;ty:,!"t r,"",him, eomething's goinion *rorrs." fi"-oiai. -' -'^.-
on a trip through the black -neigh-borhoods of Crawfordville and the rest of thisrural Georgia county g0 mile" 

"r"i"ot Aitr"6. li L 
"."y to find many others wheevote ca,e about similarry to Arthur B.lbr,;. Th; , ;'il;;''of"ffipre ri.keKathryn Blackmon' a 2Gvearold-.;;;;"tr;;';io ,. nor certain just who the manras who broug.ht her abs6ntee bald;;'tik; datett Evans. gz. who recalled hon

[lriirsi'rlh']."r*m9r*,,9"fJl'*s"-ii'd;b;,r-"i;;tri"i"iirr;iioutfor,. was rD large part to guarant€e.that peopr_e like Arthur Bolton. Kathrvn Black_
B:""Ti,,3fti1;[ ];T TS]ld 

n ot be e;i;;a 
"fi i; ;;il i6;' ffi ;a""li opt"a io

Fifteen vears ]ater. however, the vote.has not mearlt political power for blacks inTaliaferro- countv and many'-pl.""r 
-iil"-ii'"tl,iougtrout 

Georgia and the south.5ffi iT'6't3f il'":*:'#i*y't"**ii;#;i,Ela;#itru:ru
public office.' ln thi; ;+pect' Taliaferrg e.rrv .is no $ierent- from manv other of the 22
r,:{ii:i'iy?,p:,#l!#?:1r:'}#"}ffi ,"i,,*:ffi '::ffi flJr#"Jtr,?,-"io,r,usr aF whltes rn the south irave devoted consideiable errrn i'ria developed manvtechnlques .., ger around qot1,". r;i-th;r';f q,i"ftf iil;..;*-.';;[t d*.d-
ffif,r:i:-.# have they worked to"ciriumvent'tr,"-trtt'rin;-cii; ;; olii;'. ,n""o

Here rn Taii:rferro c'ount.r" the use-anri apparenr abuse--of absentee bailots hasbeen the. qralg:'. tgol "f ,r _d9ri;t i:iii'fiii"car .estabrishmenr to dilute thermpao of the black votp ever eince vorer reg:ritration'd;G';;;T; ril,*ii*_p*b1'blacks to gain public off,c" mor* tf,-ai'r'a-ffiiilg"



''gg
An inveatigation by The Atlanta Constitution of the 1980 Taliaferro County

primarv-the- eletiori that counts mat in this and other areas where almqi
Lrervorie is a Democrat-fouad that coercion and dilution of the black vote were
o"rts of the campaisns run bv two elatec of whit€ candidat4s.' As for blacks ivho'had run-for offie before, they had decided that it vas futile to
challenge the entrenched white political eetablishment led by Sheriff Combs and
lonetime county achool Euperintendent IrIa Willians, both of whom again won re.
election this year.

The exami-nation of the election, in which abeentee ballots accounted for more
then one.third of the 1,545 voteg ca8t, found that:

Candi&tcs, including incumbents who wield considerable local power, r%ulsrlv
handdeliver absent€e ballots to poor and illiterate black voters and stand by thl
voters while the ballots are filledout. Some of thme who obtained abeentee bCllote
admit they could have gone to the polls to vote.

Despitc-a stat€ law eiating that people who move from a county for anything but
a temborary period must change their place of voting, people who have not lived in
Taliaferro Colnty for many years are allowed to vote by a@nqee ballot. Among the
longdistance voters are the aheriffe grown children, one of whom has not lived in
Tal-iaferro for more thal 20 yesrs.

'Countv political activists tell of watermelons being distributed to some voters at
election-tiine, and one former school-bus driver admits he passed out liquor in one
election to cet black vot€rs to Eupport the county echool superintendent.

Among the black voters receiving aseistance in filling out ballot4-a procedure
designed-for illiterates and the haniiicapped-is a teacher's aide with a high*chool
education.

The abuse of the abeentee,ballot privilege ie nothing new in political racea
throuehout the United Stat€6. Indeed, periodic abuses of absentee ballots are ae
traditional in conventional Georeia poliiics as the "tombstone" vote, in which the
names of dead persons have been used to swell the election totals of unacrupulous
candidates.

It was perhape inevitable that the 4irty tricks of-con_v-entionql Politics would be
out to new racial use in the wake of adoption of the Voting Rishts Act in 1965.' Reviewins the first decade of the Voting Rights Act, the U.S. Commission on Civil
Riehts norca that an "important problem" developed with the suspension of literaca
tesits in the South-the hueetion of how blacks previously classified as illiteratc
would be assist€d in voting. At the same time, the commission obeerved that the
frequently complex absentee-ballot process provided "ample opportunity for abue."

THE HOME OF AI.E:X.ANDEN SIEPHENS

Taliaferro (rronounced Tollitter) County was the home of Alexander Hamilton
Stephens, the-vice president of the Confederacy and g governor of_Geo'iga. He died
in i883, but he lefCan unmistahable imprint orr the landscape of Crawfordville, the
county seat, and the surrounding area.

Steihens' rombling two*tory, white frame home with its plantation acreag:e haa
been turned into a stat€ park. Its crisp, painted and manicured appearance con-
trasts with the many rundown buildingt near the town square.

Crawfordville wai once the center 6f a bustling cominunity with a mixture of
industry that included textitles, pulpwood and farming. The county population once
was atmost 9,0ffi.

The textitle and pulpwood industries left the county, however, and by 1950 the
population had declined to 4,515; by 1960 to 3,3?0; and the 1970 census recorded only
2,426 residents. \[hen other business left,, government and other public jobs like
teachins became more valuable.

With"it6 heavily black population (63.6 percent according to the 19?0 census, but
?1.6 percent accordine to the latest state estimatest and its declining econorDy,
Taliaibrro C,ounty waia natural target for civil riEhts demonstrations in 1965 when
the five black teachers who were participating in a voter registration drive wett
frred.

Calvin T\rrner, one of the teachers, recalled recently the day that gchool Superir
tendent \{illiams told him he was fired, "She told me she had been hearing thiagl
about me, but she never said what," he said. To this day, T\rrner is convinced b
was frred'becsuse he was leading the registration drive and other civil rightr
protests.- M.r. Witti.-. ha-s declined interviews with reporters. News reports in 1966
quoted white residents as saying that the blacks were fired becsuse they were nd
6avine their debts to locai mercliants.'AiiD..- M;*in t utrrei King Jr., who had just won a Nobel Peace Prize for bL
leadership of the civil rights movement, beliived T\rrner. King and has e86i

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:rl?r,LTi1"?b".nree balrots accountd for

i,,*l:rT?,ld^_:.yiderablef ocatpower.reo,,inl#:'IfirgTi.[i"#-ffi

#'*'ffi:triir*-x5l'tffi

ltiH{iliiE*i["ffi"frfllti"'.'h",[, r r;*nr"Fs$lfi:

d,ffi*::{ffi*tr':mHffi

:ffiffiI:ffiffi*$ffiffi
'AI,EXI'NDEA &TEPHENS

$*ftr#f *Hffi*i*rH*lffi#
1^t"+". home wi.th its plantation acreage hrnsp, pa.inted and maniir
rgE near the town *u"""1* apPearance @D'

,&'":HTjH,ff HyULf }Aff;*ag
tr9'i%5?"r,"$T?;.1t?6"g' and bv r-eqo tb.
Ieft,, gbvernm;,;;;' ;rff#Hriii.":Xfl H

3.6 percent accordins to

ifi5,q,:HsIl$*;'F"iirfd:W

,ffi 
,$i,fr?ii*i,fr frili,jl:f-*#

i,lf ot'* fnt[, H.,Jtrf; #.'ffi

289

ffi }i]1T"',]r,lx'.:#,ffi H*#*kfld;'#i'r"rn[[:y.r#mt
N*roee...."
Lt-nigt,t, King promiaed the black residents of Alexander Stephens, hometowa:rre sdll never be peace or tranouilitv rrhtil ri; Na--.:;:;^':::::::.

ff#ld$;'-ff"Jffi :,,i:.T3*?H',',%H'i'*'*"",*f'f ;,m:Xir":Xi*
*#Ufi,f;i,"t',h*"",1; S"'**'".ffit* manv or both races here' but the

ae .gq a ltyearold blaik rerident of rariaferro kynty when Dr. King visited.lpqrld grow up to ea_rn \e_q.fh D in eaucstion and ih;;".;;;; 6'r,ii'ilBrlXtiffi
l q6-t.i Ti:^ic" i11s1 I f; _y.irlilry*fgr sch ool s u [ri, t ; a;;;, ;;ii,ii ni."Sii*".tI of tro blacks q,ho have eought offrce in Taliafdrro.- 

-----"-' "'e'r''5 sr ' e'
-I ras shocked," Dr. stewart-said of the election Dr@e6s. Electioneering, she said,rlved-'tntimidating the vote. "

ione of Dr. Ste*artrs most_ active supporters was cah'in T\rrner, the fired schml-hc}er. l-\rner,, the onlv other_brack-tb have run foi "fli";;'ii,!".,Junii, r*t rri"
lm.A*_l9l.flp:yflytendent n tytz. six years u"i"i"-ir,-iil iljiilft', he had

, Both blacks qpd ryhites agree-it was theee political contests-and a new kind of
!*,_T-1I".fl*,,:*f"^_fX g_"*:+lrfttg* i, c"a*roil-,lr"ji'ri!t-diilght new'-tio into the political process in Tuiareiio County. -"-- -'v{tsr!r ,ew

THE CTVIL RICHIE THING

Lpis Richards can smile now about the days ,,when we had the civil right€ thing
Dare," but there gtill are trace' of the resent-m""t tir"t 

"Lq 
r;d;;"-;i";1;verningrtites felt at the time when, as she savs. "til-Fbi";;"ui"'ri""'Jqr.rt..

he. . . . People just dreaded them, you knowl';'

I,ORE TN,ADITTON THAN NECE&SITY

6ome of the time, the poli-tical actir.ists here argue that so many abaentee balJotsrln necessary because residents have to *orl Sutside tt"'""iti. EiZr times,Lorever, they admit that the absentee ballots are mo* t.iiitiii'iia"poiiiio tr,r,algrsity=a fact^confirmed in conversations with Ulr"t 
""rfi=.-Gradv Bolton,36, for one,-co_uld have **" toit" poDs on election day. At voting

fr &'"1,1r*,iiii*Iiiffi Bfl ili;u',,i:"3ffi ffi tt##t$,XtHtu*#alJ:^^- u^rlr^-J L-J L_-Addison Hallford had brought ti+. i, s,pprr"9ri", i". inIl#iiiliriot-r#"r#i
&tivered the balrot. Borto; Baid re rrriia ii o;i;;;i;i it,;;";#1,'back toBdlford.

la'rry-Rice, who.has Iived in w-ilk-es county for a year, said sheriffcombs crmethe Texaco service station in washinelo;, itiei" nice ;o-.k^. ;;;'i;"iiti"i;- "-
Dv the Texaco service srarion in Washinglo;,;fi;" R'i;;";il,;;;;#iliTfffti
ebcentee ballot. He s"ia ne stadb. ;;G?-l;i'itt'rr,".in ,;f ;;';i;;;f"i',ll --^thing down.there, and tre waiatwiys h;[r"c ;;oitJ; il." iJffr#Lora DcOtt, I Dlack wqman who livm in neiohlrri-- n---^ i

alwayslnto some

w-oman-who lives ii neighborinf bree;e--County, said sheaferro .C.ounty. becauee- sf,e once. tirea- ih";;e'fit* iii"
wru xeLL, a Dlacx woman who llve6 in neighboring Greenevoted_abeentee-in Taliaferro C,ounty b.dil-;E; once tived thrherifl "They'd better feep ttrai-olalnenrr. Ine_vo Dett€r ke€

rround your back like some

I'. becauee- she once lived there and li-kes the
lcl -buzzard down there. He don,t go sneakingpynq j/oul back like some young sheriffwould do,,,she

lda Mae.LeE'i6. a black teacher,s aide, did not u6e an
lo," she s8.id.
uee an ab8entee ballot but said ehe

ITg.=IL.{v,o1er at.the nofis, artiro-righ;h;'h;"-iiff;;tr.itJirlllSffJ.i?[
rbe req uested het p or whi te. 

-otrrcial 
il -tfi 

' 
fiiL; frri th"' i;.d;;#;f Hl: "":; H:rcret did not iirfluence it. Si,e 

"aili- 
s["' ,;;; for Mm witri.-. o ..-rffj"*9.jjl,,influence it. she 

"aia 
-sfi"-troted 

:i;;'i,il:"ti,ii:l#,*,,,gooa

for County C,ommGion chairman.

intendent-"Ipenntendent-" i-- -'---' q 6q

-I II^". ry ,8]-lear-ord Garnett Evans,- it was creveland peek and another man* g^P.glf.l,_*.abri:n tee bau ot. 
-E;;.* 

*je -l;" t" ui.[.$,'J ffi ## Fui".Lili ffi
Hi"ri'effii'",?r,".f,1,fr"tl"J*:fH,%1,I;"".*'i".liff;r**,L",T#"ll,#di,lr$tach us but work

Ozzie Bell. an elderlv black woman who Ives donrr lhe highwa;- from Evans, saidfl'at Peek also broustr her the 
-absen'G-i;;;.. 

Bur she refuied ro discuss the
31F.. "So much is loing,, *tir,irri.-Jirr,;;'. h".a-; t ,il *iiltH'e*td who,sn8ht.

XAJOA SIIMULUE 
'IOB 

VC,TTNG Agr
r lyithout Fq*t"ag.g of the background of politics rn Taliaferro County. an obeerv_- tsn @ncrude in lisht of one iatistic thit the-cou;qr-il';,;;;; #e of theproblenu that led cdc.or t" ".""t-tt" r,itrirg'iiigr,t Aa'i" r"g'os.:iir""&tremery

?, Bi,i* HH.f iH,rtrr#a'm



290

Iorr.(voting) paltiqipation.of blacls- in thLuth was a major atimulus for enii ti,e-votlo[ nL[G-A;,';i[;ii"S. d;---;;r'oi ci'ir Rishts wrot€ ,",""lflfli*
a80.

-.^ll T{t{"^*_?,u3lyl ol-?1,*?.,^6gTT}e,TF to. it.that eueDrcrc bln'Ialraterno (runty, oI @ur8e, Bomeone Eees to it Lhat evenonc is sisned rr. +^
yS11 tu^9:ftgd^.P_f|ryt4, ::A l$ "f ofd.,heads, they got ir,em andresisa6d
!!:?;_ F"ryUy that they could, they got them i" ati" Aunit:;e-"ri;fit
county."
_ lndeed, it aeems that.there are .more people registered to vote in Taliaferro
Countv than there ar.e votinss.se midentnColnty are voting-age reaidents.

Ir,.lS'"'*le^8f,-y*!**l*3:^99"8?p-,E1919r-!-!9govntv.-incrudingvrrurrrsru rrov EIEG rtturet' rrsl ure f{)ral popurauon ol lile countv-tncludiag
children--at 2,043. At_last 

"gso!, 
tL"r" w-ere 1,?46'reg:istered voters, or 6s percent ort}e total population. statewide in c'eorgira, only 42.6-percent of the total joput-"t;#t}e total population. stat€wide in c'eorgira, only 42.6-percent of the total frp.t"ti;i6 resistered to vote-is registered to vote.

Thire werc 1,545 votes in Taliaferro's Aug.5 primary, a turnout of better thaa g0
percent.

As much as the statistics reflect an unusually active political community. thev
also reflect how succesfully the county has ai,oided th-e intended er"ct"',ir-ttli
Voting Rights Ac.t.

To the extent that whitcs lirring -ou-tside the county continue to vote trrere, tie
black. voting p?opty F diluted. And il whites con-tinul to vote for white ca;ai&Ein a bloc-which has been a consiatent finding of voter studies in the south-nii
tech-rli-que6 wtrich .cut ilto. blgcks voting_a bloc make it almost impoesible ro. . util[
candidate to be electcd. And everyone here says that white incrimbents have-beei
effective at winning black votes 5y delivering-abaentee ballots and offering assis[-
ance to poor and r.lliterate voters.

Georgia.Secretary- of State -P_oythreas s+d be was generally ,'concerned,, about
po6slDle- aDuse ot absent6Fba.llot and assiated-voter regulations. "These are two
argar_wh-ere_a perton other than a voter can know how h6 voted," he said.
. officials charged with enforcing the !9tig Frshts 4ct have iEid repeatedly that

the act was intended not to gu-aran_tee black-victories but to fulfrll "tt,e proriise oifull participation" in elections for all eroum.

-"fhe qu&tion ir whether the black"codmunity har been able to elect candidatea
of .their choice-, whether the face is black or white," said Paul F. Hancock, chiii oi
litigation for the voting eection of the u.s. Justice Department in washinston iTh;
problem is when the people they want can't get electcd."
- sitting behind his home in Taliaferro county, cleveland Peek said he was doubt-ful someone of his race could win a local elrtion, even though blacks represent
more than 70 percent of the population. "It could happen." he Seean after a oaune.
"More black hin than whitc. If they qtafed-together. But they *oi't stay togdthei.;;

And Bolton Lunceford, the defeaied candidate for echool sriperintenddnt, ;ecalled
g euestion freqqqntly asked of black voters who turn up at tlie polls. It was, ,.Wbo
brought you out?"

Mrs. Eichards, 'fow chairman of the Taliaferro C,ounty Commission and formerly
cgunty lar commisqioner for 16 year, recalled thst politics in theae parte was
always fierce but that tactics weie different before th'at turbulent perlit. "gact
then, you didn't h.ave anybody whg wgs_ilIiterate who could vote," she said. ,,If you
eee the (voting) rolls, you csn eee the difference."

The Voting Rtghts Act of 1965 suepended us€ of literacy t€st8 irl the South-Later
the-suspension was extended nationwide-because the tixts had been used to er-
clude blqcks from voting. Black college graduates had been known to fail.
- Mrs. Richards Eaid sgch tests were never used to discriminat€ here-that whea
.her latc husband eerveal as the voting- r-eg:istr.ar_ he would, i! fact, .,kind of prrmpt
them along. Hardly anyoDe was turnd do-wn." But ghe added that'the gusDe;sio"'or
any tests and the voting reg:istration drives had rdded many blacks to ihe list of
@untv vot€rs.

In i966, Calvin T\rrner entered the primary for C,ount-v C,ommission chairman
against_two whiE- candidates and fmGhed aacond, getti;g 441 votes to winner
Geo-rge !g!*o1r ?28 -and third-place finisher George Bfown's"260.

Dlrs. Richards and others around the countt: recstled a6 eveD more dirisjve
T\rrner's 1!?_2 ch,qlenge to achool Superi-ntendeirt Willi.am6, which Mrs. Witrinms
turned back i49-5n. ;

The elr"tion dres 12 federal observere-a pror-ision of the Voti-ng Richts Ait-to
-tle^county, the third time obeervers had bein on hand for a ouniy electior-since
1968.

WIIITEE UNTTED BLACX6 SPLTT VOTE

One white courtbouse ofiicial recalled tfiat ia a county in which groum of rhitee r.
were used.to.fighting eagh other at -election time, "the rihitea ju* Sit tdgether. The :;whites unit€d, and the blacks split their vote." - :

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290

[""*:*, :r &#iHlf,,*Hff '::q
ryi"",ff.j:":',iFr' ff Z;n ttrH:y got them in ttrt tountyl;t""ffi
ore people registered to vote in)nta.
he total_population of the cour
w.ere 1,?46_registered votera, orEErw yor€r8, Of t ,

Bla, only {2.6 percent of the total

s Aug. 5 primary, a turnout of bettar $,.-

,,i'H::'lY"ir*'ilf 1x'#r$1B:&,rd
side the county continue to vote
w-nrDe6 con-trnue to vote for white
r rrnomg o-r'voter etudies in the I

f"u"$if ",f 
*mr"il",m:tTi[

:ivering -aboent* u,Jta;."ii-ffi iil
s aqrd !e was generally .,concerned,, ,.rauted-voter regulations.,,Iheee orj
'_can tnow how he voted,,, he eeid.

r&r"i*Ett t*,ffii,ffixffi
)up6.

atiafq5rg County Commission and formerlv
_ r'ecalled that politics in thee€, nartr ril
ierent before th'at turbuleni p".i'"a ;dfi
.i.lliteraF who could 

"ot",',,-tJsa1al 
,,Ifffi

'erence."
led,uae of literacy tests in the South-later
e-begau€€ the t€sts had been used to et-raduat€G had been known to fail.
lver uaed to discriminate here_that wheD
ryistrar he would, in fact, ,.lind;-f ;.;;own.- tsut she added that the euspe;sion biivee had added maay bhcG toih;-tffi';
rrimary for_ County C-ommiesion chairman
lned 

^E€cond, getting 441 votes to winner,her George Brown'a 260.
9 cou{rty lqgal]ed as even more divisive'rntendent Silliams, which Mrs. Williem^

-a provision of the Voting Bights Act_to
been on hand for a ou.niy 

"Te.tioo 
ei"6

. AL,'\CE6 SPIJT VOTE

;hat.ia a.county in which groups of white
ll:ltrt" 

"the whites just gor t4ether. Tbe

/--
t29l

.Sichards a3r.d,"I",,dfn'tlelieve whites feared election of a black official.

ffitr"{ffi?#ii*?'L*"Ts.L'il*,r,y,tiT}ri*.HJstri:ffi
"r""s 

bf the country-became predominantly black institutions following
d desegregation. Enrollment tumbled from about 800 in 1966 to only

Iiif io* aslhe population declined and virtually every white student was

'--*i"ate echools or echools outside the county. The county's school millage

i fiZ X amont the five lowest in the stat€ and far .below the state average of

?*a, worry in this county, Mrg. Richards gaid, i6 that "taxet would be
Lrl"a the Coulty_Commission chairman advised a- Constitulbion reporter to
;;i" Hancock 

-County," a neighboring county that has higher property

fi3ffii#JuJ*mf*, 
black population-rhe highesl in the state-ha'

.-iUthard6 said it was in the context of this "fear of taxes" and traditionally-lo"al politics that the relatively uneducated black voters added to the rolls
tii" mid-1960't came to be targeted by candidates of both races. the County
.i*inn chairman was clearlv disillueioned s'ith the campaisx procedure whichion chairman was clearly disillueioned with the campaigtr procedure which

I but accepted it as a fact of life here. "You more or }ess have to do it," ehe

a raid the candidates' attitude toward the new vot€!.s as simply, "The first one
get th"re, yog Se.t them." Shg *id t?9 voters "don't,care." 

,
iri-orocedur,i also is simple: The candidate or a helper brings along applications
l[inte" ballots on.visits to households..Potential 

".oe]E 
qr9 asked w]rether they;t like the candidate or a helper to deliver the ballot later. The form then is

i"if 'ruter numbers sft€r the 1966 election: thooe from people-mostly whites, he
.-.-tr iia-U"i"g outside the county. "Since then, votes have been coming from every-

t out eo that the abeentee ballot is mailed not to the voter, but to the candidates
their helpers. Then the candidate or an aide drives the ballot out to the voter
if possible, waits while it i6 filled out--or, in the case of illiterates, offers

ffiffi; drys, if you don't play this game in Taliaferro County, Mrs. Richards said,
.#I'+6tl might as weII not get in the race."
ii5rr'Catvin- Thrner said he noticed another type of absentee ballot appearing in

tere," Turner said.
IIe has given up trytng to run for offrce himself.
Whites traditionally frght among themselves in Taliaferro County, and the war-H,#'ffi di;;^il?,"ffi ; ;fr;'ii r;;;-;;;; ;e ;;a;;t";;-";1i f tr," cou"ty

:#- ou-rthouse this summer. The commission chairman's offrce is directly across the
orridor from the sheriffs offrce, and the echeduled installation of new glass doors

!'- throughout the courthouee provided Mrs. Richards with an opportunity to express
' berc dislike for Sheriff Combs.

Combs, appointed as county gheriff in 1971 and elected three times since, insisted
r.. m Leeping his old thick wooden door to maintain privacy in his offrce. "I'm going to

chop it down!" the combative Mrs. Richards exclaimed, charging that the aheriff
iust wanted privacy so he could take naps. "No work and all pay," she muttered.- 

There were two hotly contested races in the August primary. Sheriff Combs and
rhml Superi-ntendent Williams were up for reelection, and they supported eachrhml Superi-ntendent Williams were up for reelection, and they supported each
other. T\ro opponents, also aligned as a team, were backed by Mrs. Richards, the
commission chairman.

The challengers had frled to run at the last poasible moment, then moved quickly
to be first to reach blacks throughout the countryside with absentee ballot applica-
tions. "This year we set out to get these people," Mrs. Richards said.

But the incumbent slate responded with ib own absentee ballot
campaign-and won both races.

Mrs. Bichards complained that the sheriff himself had gone out
with ballot applicatiohs and that he and Addison Hallford received
"over 100 absentee ballots."

' ln the office acroes the hall, Sheriff Combs said he had little memory of the recent
t': election. "I didn't keep no note6 or nothing like that," he said.
+ Combs, who is 64, *as county roads for6man before becoming sheriff, and a truck
fi:- driver before that. Moet of his work is generated by lnterstate 20, which runs for 1l

miles through the county, he eaid. Combs said he is the eort of law enforcement
ollicer who prefers to eettle local disput€6 by negotiation, without making an arrest.
"All these ?amily problems, it ain't worth a damn to gtt a warrant," he said.

[.
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292

comba said he could not remember taking absentee ballots to votrcounty, arir,oujii ;];; u;ii"G'i;;:;, ?'i'fe counfy may have r""r'H"T"atjhim-perh-apr those of his own children and mother-in_i;* j; ;;;. 
*""

"lots of kids move ar,r,ay from here and ";t" ;il;t ". Th;y come back f66weekends," he said.
OI^D&ST 8ON IJVES IN ATIAIfTA

only one of the combe' four children rives in Taliaferro c.ounty. The oldest rnmoved ana.5, aft€r high. *hool and, at 42, now I"es in ailnu,-d;,* il;.Georgra law stat€6, "A person shalr not be considered to lia"; i;4il residencewho lesves his home *d. qor into anorher 
"t t", oi ;;;iy ir;-i# state, fctemporary purposes only,-with the intention of returning .-.-.-.;t -' "*

'I'here 16 no definition of "temporary" in the lay. G99i9a Secretary of state DavidPovthress, charged with oversee-ing eiectio;in c*"sr.,Gi;-Ii;ild#tinai'g *arthat "intent" to live in a pynty -is necesaary to qufiifj, _to ,iG tf,L*.Tif ;;;;move6 away and does not have an intent-to .iturn, r *o"ld-;i.'ire-i" ooi-iuresidence," Poythress said.
unlike the sheriff, Addison Hallford had no trouble remembering details of absen-tee voting du_ring rhe A34pt prima-ry-in fact, a noted'L t" hf ilI;i ["t"d-;jithe election fr,sures, inclu-dingihe arrirost 500 absentee ballots talli'J.'i; H"fi"ilwho eaid this was his frrst effort at electioneering i" -rrhJl.i" 

*f,il"oJrng to the

*fi}#rffi*;f :,iH,rii::'i#",i1*'":"*,1ffi:',"#*;
1965, most of the whites moved out but Lepi-thei; 

-;egr;;;tio;'i,;;i1-i;"-;[
Hallfor4 a.S2vearold white man,. w-as borir in -n;igir-bo;;g-wirril* 

"c"rnty 
andmoved to Taliaferro when he married Virian Lunsfo;e;;[;'a;1g'hii]lrii" present

Tal iafe^rro- Coun ty regist rar, Ruby Lu nsford.
Hallford owns a smalr used<ir lot in wilkes cou-nty and has sold many car6 topeople in Taliaferro counttr'. Many know him not grily ;;h";*d;-, rrl, uut.t"oas Sheriff goJtps'_:'h.9le€.," o. -depug'1 1; rici, t;;; il;;;; u'H"puty ,*o

vears ago. while Hallford Iosr thaf official status tast-yegr, h9-"iiit *i.i-es a policeradio in his car and helps the sheriff out *hen neededl;i;i;-b"";H;;iig rrim allmy_lil9," Ha[ford said, as he workJ in-fi-;h";;.p;irti"g"r',i*i car blue.Hallford said his electioneering with sheriff co;ir ";;';;r-i J.IJilnse to ti,eearlv push br- Mry, Rrchards and.-her aries to set a Gige nu-u"; 
"r,[IliL urrot"against the sheriff. "They were just..going. to iun ore."hir.\ ;;.; ili'worted forthe county (and) sot shot five tinies tii an"incident *;;;--;;;;'ilot.'So-"Uoal. frrato help him," Hal-lford said.

In a small communitv_where secrets are hard,to keep, Halford said he hadIearned that of the frrst 250 absentee uattotsoraerea l.'.t'h-Jffi;i;]'zto iji"t to tt"leaders of the opposition.
So Hallford iriid he and the sheriff hit the r

a.nytime *" ..o i.,to *-"on" *r,o ."ii- t-riiiy'ii'L'331t;r;f"" J,frr;'rTli'ff):f ,ffathem up an absenree," Hallford said.
Georgia lan' states that a vot€r can cast an absentee ballot onl;- if he is ,,required

in be absent from his erection district du.*sih;;;;;il;;;i:;;ti,rir'h? desi.e, tovote in or who because.of.anv phvsrcaiiisabi'tiq--wiir L;;;;i; to'be pr"s"ntat the polls on the dav ofsuch."
AIso under state lai,, a voter must file his request for an absentee ballot with theg9u.r1!v legstrar and write on.the application th'e addiess io *[i;'ffi;il;ld be sent.Hallford said he indeed mailed th'e'requesG to ;h;-;"d;.;;;i';fi"d"his ownreturn address on them.
Hallford said when he later delivered the absentee ballots, l1 ofthe people asked

lp .k*p the. batlots for a while, but the rest ntied-oui ;h-;';;ioG i,rii" r["ri*t"a. r."nine. maybe.ten" cases, he filled out the [atjots f"iiili[.-"t"*1i#.'' "' "
D_ta-te- ta$' al.loEs one person to qsist up to l0 vot€rs.
Hallrord said the sheriff "may have done one or two" assrsted ballots, one becausethe voter n,as oaralvzed.

. ln all. Hallford cilcurated that 60 absentee barors had been senr to his posr officebox, then drstributed. ,,The sherifth"d ih;ilt. .;;;;'h;J:;:;lt w rr* F
-Jhe same went on wirh the otherpoiiiicir f;;ir;, H;iif".dii"a. ,,r.," Richards,frfty went to her box," he said.

AIVNQUEs AND FORMAL POBTRArIS

Bolton Lunceford and her husband Meil appear out of prace in the poor, ruralGeorga countv. Both are schoolteachers ir-fir-';*; c";;iJ-ii iiiil". #*rl" 
"o..

11p:

ry
the t

tbe
*ud,
cftrnbr

t?Po
liouc

Sh
day
@ml
@un
lDan

Or
blacl
Alth
revel
ferrr

ID
ouali
that
Stew

Pe
it wa
for ll
they
Peek

DU
liquo
wate

A
everJ
work
admi
bis sr

In
oPpol
Peek
and I

t'BIrC
M:

tbe t

rou'].N

Zn
r$0,
electr
made

Cur
Sund
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Curti

lbr
popul

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292

nembr trking abeentee

rry:#-Ta"ffi.1fi:H'lT;"".;#H*T"ot
m nere and vot€ absentee. They come back b. 8ON IJ1IES TN ATIANTA

iffiTi"iTf,,T#ffitr_:dry" ],"0, 0* -
,#m;$;ifir,,"T 3"'xi}.,'tri# tr*H

##;;ffiF_ffiH-T-ffi
ford had no trouble remr

ll,td;Btr$fffii.ffiHffi

u'?*:**ffi}-fttr;n#i,l#

ffil#-*gffi
[T5,S1",]#"10'ritrfu*tf5.r?"r,,'tH

tf #&,:\""trf;r,f"" 
"r,ff 

,;1Tl*ff,:f d*

##ffi iFlil"r*Tlr$llrr#Hfi
$f" hi" request for an arrication tr,'" .liiii=? ;Tii,T HiitUL,I;reque€ts to the reg"i.stra, 

""a pfr.t- fr Ti;
'ed the abaentee ballots_

#,l.,t$*F,l*[*{:#itrr*,trlfl
t up to l0 voters.
done one or two,, assisted ballots, one because

P:Srf* ballots had been sent to his post officeI thrrt). c-ome to him.,, he saro.)olrtrcat thction, Hallford said. ,,Lois 
Richards,

D FOR.I{AL PCIBTRAIIS

"X"I 
"nffi'"f .,&llrJ'ffi 

Hr'*" #? H

H"i:i,",';S;3,1?fili.Hfyt*li,Hi",n?flilf rdvilreandnrreditrilhantiques,

..1q1."":*ff [io;i r1f";1"i,1*^TTlT. :L"_ l3c,!e Etsr ish, d rsm a q! d I at i n, was

efi ffi Tflrj,ffi'Jju:lrr#in*;irffi qti"U.ru:*"lr,*

affl

;l
il
I

I
r

t

f;
t.

*;ifiixi#f il*f:.;lr,{,}ifrf*-tr*ii#iH{"#r##?'Ei
U115. rrun@rcrd- agreed that both sides in the A

H#S*;*,3f;'ffi ;r,;riia'uti,i*t"itff ,fi i.1H1.i'#S:1,?,r|1T"d,Tff ,l:- After the primary, Mrs. Lunceford. who is wh*- '*^+^ +^ Gr^-r- --r:tui-#j1#*#i,{g'ga}1T$*T".[ffi 
rqisr"'r;.:*ff s;srff"T

,.?ri"?t"i,f5.l*.:?3**:;ll?lg5u9 they wourd be out of town on etection

Htu.T$*frffi ###i",**rF#ffiiillffi frT#,F#,#ji
,fr :,f *T:.n"l"di:,H,*#s"ffi$"p"r;ffi,fl$ffi
AJthough he has onlv

fffl"ffif ffirlf1.!_ltl1,,TitrJ[*r-,,irre said not rong ago

*pt-",5-i,q,$'"ffifg=:ll',hll;tffi*##t#iffi IttHB'S,ewart. His reason: "I was w6rking foiilG. fiifi
o'#oa*H"xti**ffiig,"a,',6qmtgr.-**-,ftffiffi**
for Mrs. Willians. "I told
tley were going to vot€
Pek said he provided thr

uunng an rDtervrew *91 {t"., peek said he could no longer recall distlfiuor but apoke_ of how rival c"inp;,i8";-ilit
raterm,elons. "My aide.ain.t getting nothing,,,n" '.,idit'l'Rii"ffi'rT*llro#,iil5
#*H5"rXH"BT";:fi construction worl has enabled_-him to know atmosr
i"iiiii-rgzs'ilililv:fi:B[s??'-H*rrmmil##*ilT,'aE"Jtsi
administration. rrre cariaiaatc t*i, "riaii!ffi'#rater, peek said, he rias tord thathis school bus route was no lonsei'n;;J. -" *,'

",H.1"'rl',[rlmt[?,:'m]*+*s*.m**ffs;i"ffi T";,jffiPeek recalled, sitting bacl
aDd pBs.

lFrcm tbe Aueta CoErtitution, Dec. 10, lggo]

vonxc: A Rron **o$mffiry1,^r}r#l,*^ro" eNn Br.ecxs Losr

,#nfr :hr#\r#.*;ffi ffix;trrffi ##f{tr,*ff#
Rishts Act of 1965.'

_ w *:ffi ;f [x,!fri ffi ; a; i;t" F;

6Ti?};l,i:tg:#5rf!.:",,jffi I",!'*.r*"ff"T:'#i,lrl,*,.iilrclected official' curtis 
t11e, rqFt a dozen 

"oG ihort of the white iicumbent andlrqle it into a runoff before toerne.

ffi,r#,,##*,#frfr }.HIr'hr#x,Lt'*,H}*tri"fo l:
The difference in tfie two electiolf reflected uot.go much a decline iD curtis,popularitv a6 it did a change oreath;"F;- ii thu *.y achoor board lr"ctions



294

$ere conductd in Pike c"rrl!{ .And the change lessened the chances not only forCurtis, but for an-v black candidatc.
l-n 1-9?-0, curtis had been able to run in the Zebulon disrrict, which had a substan-tial black population on whose supporl he could count.

. In 1972, the_count.v abolished-ihe system under which each of five districts-
rncruorng.the,:z€bulon cllstrlcl rn which curtis ran-elected its own achool board
member,. it adopted, instead, an election sygtem in-which each candidate had to ruicount;'*'id.e. And since the county as a whble was 60 percent white, c"rti" no tongii
stood much of a chance.

"We knew we couldn't win an elect.ion countyrlide," Curtis said.
Io thi" day,. Pike county has no bl_egk qlhool board members or commissioners.

R#il;:ff i%?'ir3l"*'#,1[;.j:r#;I:!"_?T?b:TrPi,y.li:##"*E.H
many Georgia counties.

The feature of the Voting Rights Act with the most immediate impact was the
suspension of literacy- teets thal had beetr used for decades to keep'blacks-fr6ri
re4sterrng to vote. After enactment of the law on Aug. 6, 1965, regGtration drives
added more than I million blacks to voting rolls in the Souih.

-Th.e moat pgwgrf-ul provilion of the act, however, was another section of the Lawwhich recognized that blacks, even with the vote, could be denied equat participa-
tion in politics.

section Five of the Voting Rlgl1ts fa requires state and local governments in thepouth e']re<lea-r" with tlre u.s. Justice'Departmenr or a fediral'co"rt i" w"ii,:
lngton, i,r.(-., any change in Iaws or regulations that affect voting.

"C,ongress.knew.," the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights ex:plained later, .,that
seemingly. minor changes in.electoral law coqld, in fact,"serve t6 exilude mirio.iliE,ror parti-cipation orto minimize the effect of their participation.',
., Th* ,charg$ with e:rforcing the V-oting RighG Act iarre never viewed as a"mrnor change" a shift from voting by districts-in some of which blacks are likelvto be concentrated-to county-wiile r'at-large" voting. paul r runcock, ctrier-,ir
litigation.for the Justice Depahm,ent's votin[ section,ialled such changCby *nite-
controlled governments perhaps the. major tiol now "used to keep mffiriti* out ofoffice."
. The Justice Dep-artment's voting section has repeatedly used section Five to block

shifts to atJarge elections in the $uth.
.In Pike count5', hor*'ever, the change in school board elections went into effect

E'ithout any revieu' by the Justice Department or the federal court in washinston.
Neither the county nor the stat€, it turned out, had bothered to file notice oI the
election change with the u.s. attorney general as required by the voting RighG
Act.

Dr. J,ames T\rrpin,?ike. county's superintendent of schools, said recently that heand other countv ofTicials were not aware of the government regulati-on. Thev
learned of the ovlrsight, Dr. Turpin saia, wiren tre recEiuea u tcit". a;;-air;'ij;;;r
sovernment ear.lv last vear reporting that the county was in apparent violation of
[he law.

on)y then-seven_year' a-fter adoption of county'wide voting for echool board
members--dld Ptke Llounty ollicials send notice of the electoral changes to l[ashing-
ton.

A rysggryg came in_a letter from Drew Days III, the head of the Justice Depart-ment'6.civil Rights Division: "on the basG of our analysis, we are unabie to
conclude. as we must under the Voting Rights.Act, thatiti-i ctange t ;t-i"rE;
elections . . . will not have a raciallf disEriminatory effect on bftk" in pife
County."

sCENE REPE TED IN 27 COUIfrIES

. \triat happened in Pike c,ounty was not an isolated event in Georsia or the southin the years. follor,r'ing ghs sdoption of the Voting Rights Act, w"hen mass vot€r
registration drives among blacki and the first cam-ryids for office by blacks came
to many Georgia counties.

A u's. c,ommission on civil Rights sludy on the frrrt l0 years of the voting
Rights Act reported.that no less tLan zi oiher Georg:ia counties made chang; Etheir method .of picking school board memberr witf,'out reporting the change to
federal authorities.
^ In an election change involving a county c.mmission, Doolr- countv-one of zZ
Georgra counties w'ith a qajority black population---<hanged from .li.trict to ar
large votin_g i-n 1967. The Justicc Departrireirt's own recorjs show that it took lg
years^-^^untiJ this past.summer-for the department to Iearn of the change. ln a July
31, 1980 letter, federal attorne-vs finally objected to the voting system.

ffi
t*)
cod
PPtolr
llat

P
ole<
Lcr

s
itt I

tuli
Pt?'
PE

B
DOI
olai
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rhc

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tWat

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too

II
havr
irt
tccc
Ehc

ln
Creo
dun

In
Sun
tob
Mct

T1
the

M
but

ln
inter
felt
peot
yeat

Pi
if tI
digtr

It
Urat
iust

11
the r

U:
l9?4
clect

w
tlcd
dect

!3.



n4
d the change leesened the chances not only fq1
rn in the Zebulon distri.t, which had I Eubstan.,rt he could count.

hr:fk::l:i#ffik:Htrf#ffi
a whole was 60 percent,

i-on -county'r'ide, " Curtis said.'*LH$#:yiffir:r*tfl**

*H:P;;;:#FHffir##*E
il if '*""xil:'r#,i: t"l|:iffi 31 "l'Ii.,H

fi iHEff Eafl : l%f.,i":8ffi H s*1:gulations tlgt.affect voting.

Hi,-,y*ir ##F#,:*ilol t",.; ""T*
-"Hiri:fffi,a*i:iit.m.S["E#"f.
r vorurg Bection, called euch changee bt-;r;it*rajor tool now ,,us€d to keep .i""o"iti& olliT
tion has repeatedly used kion Five to block
ge in school board elections went into effect

r#*":lf i:T#fJ*"di,T;T,**Hi,
r-v general as required Uy tt " V"iini iigirii
perintcnd-ent of schools, said recentlv that he
.a.wa{e o[ the government resulati;n. T%iJ
lg, wh.en he received a letter from ttre fedei-ajthat the county was in apparent 

"loi"iion'6i
tl"l :f countywide voting for school boardrd notice of the electorat c[angesto *asf;;

.f*rP_?I.^lIIt the head of the Justice Depa.t-
l" St .o, our analysis, we ane unable to
,nC $Clts . Act, that this change to at_larsery orscnmrnatory effect on blicks in pfi"

ED IN 27 COU}SNES

1ot-an _isolated event in Georg.ia or tbe South,f the Voting Rights Act,;I;-il;;;;;
ne trr6t campaigns for offrce by blacks came

€tud.)- on^the frrst l0 years of the Votinszi oLner L;eortna counties made charlees i;memDers \*'rthout reporting tbe ch - e to
runt_v co,mmis6ion, Dooly County__one of 22:l( popu.lattoD--changed from district to at
'rtment s owTt records ahow that it took laoeparrnlent to learn ofthe chanse. In a Julv
oDJect€d to the voting system.

295

;ss*J*$*f,",tl,Hri::tr;;t#i".,qtk#.:*:titrEpuhtion in Dooty county ,,no blach t."";;;;E;;it$iJii'tf,"t fJr;'A,flfiff
aPF''FTorrt*n. more of Georgil:_gglnti"" with majority blacl populations also have no,f licf6 on their elected commissions.

#ffi ff {,ii#.Til,r"H,.:Jxt,-TiI! jHriilt?riHm:?idu,,,ff #,}ffii-"nd tle appare.nt abiri ty oi m in, ;;fi ;ii;;'ilffiffi';#, Tir'" f;Suoter Cgunty, whjch includes tte'to*n of Firii".
rEven Echool board seats in lgz3. The counrrvirt" *1fH.,3:'Xl!:

f,,ffir,-l.,HHr#F*TtH;[,'lilf{r';1ff i.*tHr+r;tir{#
:S lffi'"rti:: 5, 19?g, an election was hetd by a countywide vote.

I.E-rIER COMPIITNS 10 SUMTEN @UNTY
Records frled with the U.s. Justice Department in washington show that the nextrnth-on Julv 18, r9?3-the Justice ixp."t-!rt *.ot" 6 su.t". -6unty 

*,n-alaining that the nerfi electoral 6yst€m h;;;r"r-u.., submitted for federal rer.iew.Ite letter then objected to 
-the 

-plan Jp"G"iilirv aii;;il1;;il ifiinlt ur".rc,
'ho 

comprise 46 percent of suirter's $prl;;;r, acc-ordrng to the l9?0 census.John Mccoon, the attorney who headJif,e-aiGb" Lid;'i.ii.li'il"p.iment inxashington responsibre for-reviewing etection 
"-h..rg" in states covired by the?oting Rights Act, said recg.ntrv ti,"t lri. om..'rii*"ii1. 

";'Eii"*fu;ru;#rnment.b_obe-y notices as their election-system, 
"r"lnrrioo...In ract, however, erections,requiring a countlnrite vote for each schoor board seatbve continued in the oresidenf's. hofre 
"ounij stu"r.i-oi tr,i;;&e';;r;ust Iiveb epecified districts. 6ut eaclr 

-is'ffit-'to'"10t" 
Ja ii'ii;;iif,:s"citizens,eording to sumrer county s"t*i5iriiinlia"nt Ronnie satterfierd. Ail sevendool board members are *-hite.

rn a suit fired rast snring in- the u.s. Distria co-urt of the Middle District ofc,eorg'ia, a group of couhtgl ;;id";; .r,Iir"""iJ tr,e sumrer county election proce-lure. The.ce"e is stlll p€nding
ln washington, however, -Mc{-oon 

aaid his oflice- stilr wa6 unaware that the&pte5 voting had not been -gdGA ,[i riiiui'i"" knew, our obiecrion u.r!o be honored. No one r1e1 iirer *e;;"il;; i*;ilidft;iffii#: ;,1.?"rTgXcCoon said Ttresday. "No one reirortea tfi.t 6 u..;

t#::"9:"u."-ent 
attorney said he would investigate and ,,consider litigation,. in

hlr;[T;t,ged: 
"People assume the Justice Department must k-now everlthing_

PIXE OTTICIALS: MEAtfI NO BIAS

"BrfJi:r?n:itl,xhite 
officials ha-ve insist€d that no- raciet discrimination was

ft rt-;h;-.i;;;;;ffid,::ililyitl*..itinln,,H"*#iF#::,,*[ffi
pcople," eaid-[rnorris pitt -",iiq-io'i-ifl?-O'ui,y,s 

probate judge, for the past Z0years is chgrged with overseein; 
"t*tiir"ii#.1"Pitt6 and other officials.".su6 thri ;;-hoJ-s".d ,r,"#uers wilr be more resDonsiveif the-v are erected bv rtf ti" ;;;;tvt;ffi, and nor just those in individualcrstncts.

It was in 196? that Pike County first electcd members of its school board. Beforethat' board members were appoirited [-" 
"-Ji,irtr 

grand jury, a syst€m etill u'ed inJuEt over one.third of Georgii'i ecl,ool disiric;'-.
qfi{{+:il+:#_if ii:t*,!lJffi;"1".11uff oilYf isin-ughabi,,passedat
r#n ""i'.r!E#i,:ff3,Jlrf^k-ry9]d**,g5,.rsiii,^ro..*[*r u"r.a eeats ix both

:r *r# r,l 
gz o, uui 

-n 
oT' ;;; ";ffi fr?' il#;"HHff t# Bffi***.i: H"fl}

r{ffi,:::i;*ul't?f; ,".#sj*i!1t?,{;?rJ},:itr!,#H:,",,*SBif 
d"tr,H. dectionE -;t ;t;i;; 6;'J";' dy' fr; #;ilt "#ffi T"rtf#fl y\ff ,E hfrf ffi

83-679 o 20 (pt.:.)



n6
But an issue still remained-how to draw district lines for school board electione

in Pike County.
And again, a deci.s.ion about hor*'to conduct an election became an issue affecting

race-or so it r*'as alleged in a hearing in federal court.

DISTRICTING GOES TO U.S. JUDGE

The hearing before U.S. District Court G. Ernest Tidwell began on Sept. 12, 1980.
At issue were the five school board districts drawn up by Pike County officials.

County officials insisted that not race, but only population-getting about 1,650
residents in each district to satisfy "oneman, one-vote" election requirements-hsd
been on their minds in drawing district lines.

But a group of black Pike County citizens had sued the county board of education
and the probate judge demanding a redistricting that would be "raceconscious,"
with at least one district in which blacks would be in the majority.

Under a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling stemming from a challenge to the
election syst€m, in Mobile, Ala., the black plaintiffs had the burden of proving that
the county's district plan rvas intentionally discriminatory against them.

Chris Coates, an attorney from the American Civil Liberties Union who represent-
ed the black plaintiffs of Pike, argued that the atmosphere in that county \f,a6
pervasively racist. He said the races still live separately just as they always have,
the private white clubs are the center of business and political activity, and that
because of longstanding tradition, blacks feel uncomfortable about appearing at the
courthouse to register to vote.

Pike County offrcials who testified denied the allegations that elections in the
county discriminated against blacks. Probate Judge Pitts told the court that as far
as he knew, no black had ever been denied the right to vot€.

While testimony showed that there had never been a black on the board of
registrars, Ed Wood, the county registrar, said, "No peraon has ever been denied the
right to register."

Alan Connell, the Iawyer repreeenting the defendants indignantly told the judge
that the 19?2 election plan had "no irtentional discriminatory effect" and that
although blacks were defeated every time they ran, there was "no black and white
issue then or now."

"I submit that just because you are black does not entitle you to offrce," he said.
"There Ls complete cooperation between the races in the school system now, and we
ask the court not to disrupt it."

MANY BUIJNGS CO AGAINST GEOBGIA

Over the years, court decisions at levels up to the U.S. Supreme Court have
included rulings that both stat€ and local governments in Georgia have changed
election laws and procedures in r*'ays that could discriminate against blacks.

In 19?3, the Supreme Court agreed to revien, a reapportionment of the Georgia
House by the General Assembly. There had been extensive shifts away from single
member House districts in some populous areas. Instead, these would have multi-
member districts, where one group of voters would elect several representatives-a
system resembling county atJarge voting schemes.

The issue, r*rote Justice Potter Stewart. "is whether such changes have the
potential for diluting the value of the Negro vote." He ansrx'ered: "It is beyond doubt
that such a potential exists."

The state had to come up with I new districting plan.
T\ro years ago, a threejudge panel of the U.S. District Court in Washington had

to rule on a change in Wilkes C.ounty, Ga., in which county'-wide voting had been
instituted for both commission and school board elections.

Noting that while blacks constituted 47 percent of the population, they still
comprised only 29.9 percent of registered voters, the court found evidence of "past
discrimination in voting against black residents .'. failure of the elected officialg
to remedy the effects of that discrimination, (and) i'irtual control of the electoral
process by white persons."

The court concluded: "The effect of the voting change has been to diminish black
voting strength . . . Black residents have les,. opportunity than white residents to
participarc in the political process."

Without that di.strict, however, he vowed to push for increased registration among-
blacks here-it remains very low. Shile blacks comprise more than {() psrgent of
the county's population, only 22 percent of the voters are biack, according to county
reg'istration figures. "We've got to put on a reg'istration drive and get people to
votc," Hughley said.

i.l;
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.x6

to draw district lines for school board electiou

to conduct an election became an issue affecti11g
ng in federal court.

IG GOES TO U.8. JUDGE

)urt G. Ernest Tidwell began on Sept. 12, 1980d districts drawn up by Pike County officiat^'
race, but only population-getting a'bout l.6S

"oneman, one'vote" election requiiements-'hai
rict lines.
citizens had eued the county board of education
a redistricting that would be "raceconscious-.i
lacks would be in the majority.
ourt ruling etemmiag fiom a challenge to th"
r.black p)aintiffs had the burden of proving thai
:ionally diecriminatory against them.
e American Civil Liberties Union who repregenL
gued that the atmosphere in that couritv w*
s still live separately just as they alwavs-havi
nt€r of business and political activity, rina i[ai
,lacks feel uncomfortable about appearing at the

ed denied the allegations that elections in thr
;.- Prob-ate Judge Pitts told the court that as iar
denied the right to vote.
lere had never been a black on the board of
istrar, said, "No person has ever been denied the

nting the defendants indignantly told the judrc
no intentional discriminatory effect" and thii
y time they ran, there was "no black and whitc

re black does not entitle you to offrce," he said
veen the races in the echool system now, and *q

IG6 GO AGAINST GEORGIA

at levels up to the U.S. Supreme Court havc
rd local flovernments in Georgia have chansod
s that could discriminate against blacks.
ed to review a reapportionment of the Georei8
rere had been extensive shifts awav from sinsfe
rpulous areas. Instead, these wouli have mrI$-
of voters would elect geveral representatives-l
oting echemes.
Stewart, "is whether such changes have thc

e Negro vote." He answered: "It is beyond doubt

,sp dirlyicting plan.
:l of the U.S. Di.strict Court in Washington had
1!y, Gq., in which county-wide voting Ead beea
chool board elections.
luted 47 percent of the population, they atill
ilered voters, the court found evidence of "pat
Lck. reeidents . . failure of the elected offrciab
mination, (and) virtual control of the electonl

rf the voting change has been to diminish blaA
; have Iess opportunity than whit€ residents to

yowed to push for increased registration aD(
Yhile blacks comprise more than 40 percent
:ent of the voters are black, according to

297

Hughley and Curtis have pleaded with the re,gistrar, Ed Wood, to hire a black
trff;;':trIlil r ,o out i'nto uract areas-of tr,"" *i"tit;;-tJ,,il,=. So far,

"our offrce is open six days a week," wood said during a conversation at theourthouse Iast week. "They Lan come in,na-r"gisp.-on-sit,irjii rir'""i"ing if theyrsnt to. we also registe.r peopre on 
"i""tlon-'a"y-which we a.e noi requireo to do. Ibave copies of the ads thai wi ran in th!-paili *kir;-;;pr; ti'ii-?[orhr. The

:Etl',",e f"f#ni*.X"F:.at,the courthoG:rhtil; {;;;-#;ililJ i,, to ,"t ,p

bJ.'#:'r;tHi,Tffi[i:,4,"'i,1f .fl:'"rllli'gldefended the eountv's treatment of

*,JHIn#r*J*.**',_ffi ;,.#;,.?t".,11ff 3[",f HJli""*;,T;,]*;.s
ffhile officiars of the.voting eection of the J,stice Department admit that manv

*rtff i&i&}li:ffi 'H,?"rT:li[$;:1t,,;i[1'Jixrtf;**rj;il;;;u;
have been eubmitt€d f
g3g,,6;""1p*"gxijI'r'ff n*,;ti'i:*::#at;*llr,,##ff g{,rff !

since 1968' the Justice Department has rured as.potentia,y racialry discriminatotr ?6 proposed erection-rera'iied cr,anges in-i*"nl. Ti;;;ig;i;Tffi'objections
have ranged from the.state"tae re-a"ppo.tioiiient plan -cited above down to the
ffi[- 

of voting booths in one 
"ourit]-in a'f.iuati .lr6'iii"l-nirilrry u".."a

Georgia has drawn more-objections than any otler stat€ except Teras, whichcame under the voting Rights-Act i" ibrtJtin.tt" act was am-ended to extendrpecial protections to .'rar;guag;- ;i"o.iii"-r,;'i".ruding spanish-speaking Texans.

there is a fundamenra,T:.::::1"X::o" '"'"
+;ii;;g;;.;F;T;i,-ti',igch;i;-;;d;h;;;i;:fplt"*&il,'X",,iffj:t,*f Xittr*6led suit challenging el&tion districG.

under the Voting Rights Act or t06s, a state or locar.government whose votingctrange is challengCd bi the Justic" O"i,r-.t--urit Lr-* if,?"Lii.tt'i'Lii'.'l"i,g ,r,u,the_move will not discrihinate againsi [[acf.s'' 
-..'

"I have to agree," said wood, "ri," .ei"tronship is a lot better here than it i6 in abt of other places."

^ Clearly, -thgre 1g-a wide disparity between the

ff:tli[i:ft ffi {l;*if;*",:},"$+[*rffi H]#'i$I;:-.nt+jnDever gorng to be any chanse.,'
As for Robert curtis. he"has decided that while. he is better off now, back underdiatrict voting, even increased *gi"t."ii6ily"di."*, may not be enough to win himrn election. He is srilr conr.rr"?a ttri-'til, -d""ty 

"[""i"i'ii"'"iiltii'n "v.t"*because. whites were scared when-d;i*;; ;;;." *hit"-;;i"J'ir'" i*it ii-", *a'ii,,'i;;; ;;Jl't" lK1b'#l *"I:rym t!"X";loptimistic," he said.

Inrlrn-t*t"ii:lil,,"**,i:*iffi 
ffl ;,,j-T-,{

In the Pike Countv caso the challensine-blac
.Judge Tidwef rltea tt

dectron proceEs x'hich w_as "impossib^re. t{-ju6tif;;'-tt..-t1";k^fr"il'iiiT'iirar"a tocarry their burden of pr_oving puipoeeful aG.i.rii,n.trorr...
. . rne evldence most close approaching a showing.of ptrpoaeful discrimination thepdse wrore, "was evidence of ti,e tailur? orii,"'ii,int.il,;[,;;;;i.ii,iil, p.*y

H'ffi#fr'uffi";*ittr;:*#lr:sr*Fd"it{ffi
i$,Ttrj"t#lq#:'"*"f"'+4#f "ffH:ffi :*i*;.suniilirt

put on 8 r4:istration drive and get people



298

. And. once. again, Robert curtis ran for the zebulor district seat-and he lost to theincumbent in a runoff.

BI.ACX SEE.S NEED POR 65 PERCENT DTSTRICT

Roy Hu-gh)e1'. a black.man r*'ho.has supported curtis over the years and who wqsa plaintiff in the federal .suit, said recentli. that a ,;racec".e"i;G; ;r"iiin to pi[i
county'-redistrjcting would have made 

" tit"it c"naaaL-i;; ui"**h;i"#;J ; i;iless difficult. "We n-eed a district that's 65 p"."";4 6lack,; ir; #;.*"-' 
*'

[Frcm the Atlmta Constitution, Dec. ll, lgEO]

Voryrxc: A Rrcxr Snu DnNrpo-Lew Exprnrs rx ,g2; \trner Is nr Ferr
These articles conclude o fiue-da2 series -ezamining ebctorial. 'L6t ur.wLyr curc.u{t1 a [Lue<ur) serles ezamlnlnR electorml prutices in

*g:gy g7!, g t h7 r 
.sec !y\'^ i f * $u t h. I s w" i iffr i t 1* 3ii q'";i;| ti;votina Rishts Act of te6i.' The itit^-,iii-;;;;i;4"';;"iitiJ"

Atlanta Corxtitution slaff utitcn Aho*tor Cnt;^L D^,,t r ;^t^-^-- '.Atlanta ! oI tvop. tne ortrclts were ,yaeotched ond writtpn b!ion staff writers Chester Goolrbh, paut Licbeinin artKen Willis.

- wrsnrxcroN.-An unlikely proup of men marching into the senate caucus Roon
I?IilT,"ff1,Irprovided 

a-cfear ieminder of the fincl-rtai; fr;;; J-tr,"-viii,fr
_ First came Sen. Strom Thurmond, R-S.C., thrb";;;- "i t[; S;;.- Ri;l t i;'{y ;;'d' ii;iil$' .'*:t'#; Tf Bt""'S}::di'&**
{u{igialy Committee. Eehina rh";;;a;-; *";;;'ffik;d:';#.;;i the Rev.Ralph David Abernathv of Atlant€ and a srouo or o*"i utrcl'p"ffii#;r, some ofwh<im had once led civi'i rishG p;Lrt ln tE" S5rtn.

^, 
The No,1'. 21, gathering 1as iir fgrgq part a media event, a chance for a leader ofthe new llepublican maiority in the Senate to pose with black politicians *-no-i,.d

aupRorted.t6e president-iat.ci-aiq""y;f R.iltd'R";rg;;".'Buithffi;, fi"i,r"o -"tpnvarcly ro_dl6cuss,portlcat legrslation, and Abernathy had brought along a written
age.nda. Luted ap the hrst concern-ahead of his appeals for coitinued itirmative
action, continued school.busing an{the like-was thit Thurmona u* tii-i"nre-ric"to salvage and extend the VoIine Rishts Act.,'
.The act-reque.sted.by.P,resideit Llndon Johnson to count€ract literacy tests andother practrces that- had_kept btacks from political participation in the South_expireg in August 19.82..During the co_ming !ear, Congress ial-,j"U.L-*f,"tf,ei-t"

exr€no, amend. or kru the meaEures which have regulated election practices in theSouth for the pasr l5 years.
when his turn came to-comment-before a dozen television cameras--on therneeting with Thurmond, Abernath-_v.repe3t€q t-p!gg ;W" t"t-if,i*;;;, fi;;;,

i*ff :'ii;Hl:t"t;j.'"l"#t*'rtElf #1"t"#i'1,;,n:ffi ;'",ilffi ;t"tnii'ig
"we were rn totai asreement,'' he added "that nobody shiruld be denied the rightto vote in this countrr]'

- { f"l moment6.la-ter, Thurmond int€rjected a notc of caution. ,"\ile're not heretoday. q .discuss rsgqes,:' the ?&yearord senator *ia. u"--r,diiea irr*- while heexpec[eo Io meet wrth the black politicians in the future. ,,I'm sure there will bedifferences."
- Indeed, seated behind the-desk in his office the previous day, Thurmond had notbeen.shy- about hL. dissatisfaction with itre-Voitn;-n[irG f"i:th;'ffi;i"rion forwhich Abernath5'had camp._aigned. in the r96Gln;;T;6 s;ua, aia".Ia'a otherplace.s around the South t'I Ieel it's 

"nconstti,.,iioiif.;r iil;.;ffi-G;'iiity in *Int€ruew.

,,:ff ii;!ii,ffi .-ft if .l*L..:.|,"trtrJti'#tf9,?|:&J,i:t*"Ii,|ffi f##regulatron has $tthstood numerous Iegal challeneee since then.

,*t3;,H:i,j,T.'l',11"9",'.i1*:',ll'it1''l.t*ru,imp,,.tlflf 
"i, 

j,."?H
reglon F stat€ an-d jrcal gow-ernments. The act requires governmentS in covered areas
P_C^"I ipry1yl,lr91 the U.S Justice Department-or a-fede.al court i"-W-*ii"gt",tor.+l changes rn laws or regaulatlons that might affect votine."I've had a lot of comprdnts from differe"nt 

"GG.'; 
-Th,ir-ond 

said, ,.that anyordinance of a citl' counlil, .orJve.r)' action of a county go"e.rr-"nt -; the statelegislature has tc 5e sent up to Wasfrlnflo".;i -' -
Thurmond said that "if ii's going to Eontinue,,,the Voting Rights Act,s provisionr

w-ogld have to be exrcnded bevondthe south and tti" rei;EiiI;;-;;"T'*G,-d""when you single out certairi stateo, I ttrinrr ii;s unconstitulionat,;tre-reiterataa

i4

In thc
times ab
tbe votir
Thurmor
'States .

tacked r
rhedule

Paul .,1

ahrwged
tion to ti
rqfizn

Over 1l
When

importan
teep blac
had outla
age of vr
Georg:ia,

In the
ceremony
tered to r
fall below
major issr

Increasi
has becon
Iocal laws

There a
governmel
from the r
location ol
the statc c

In uphoJ
the purpo
iaertia fro

Still, it
euch feder

"It rema
federal au
mented w
etat€rlide
opinion wa
proposed d
Negro vote

The samr
Rights Act
Court. At i
hom holdir

For 37 v
members oi
could win r
for a aingle

In 1966,
determine t

The Atlar
that manv r

by the Voiir
In fact. tl

1974, eight .

DeB svsteEo
the p5pulat:
ttrhed a blacl



298

an for the Zebulor district seat-and he loet to t6'i

IEED FOR 65 PERCEIVI DISTBT T

r 

hff#fi rm :,}ff""T;I J|;Je'fi , iilg"*I" m
ffi* ar'i:*ffilfllff, lT,l\: 

*n-' b'"n' ; H

tbnts Cqrnitution, D.c. 11, f9801

rro--Lew Exprnrs nr '82; lVxer Is rrs Ferr
w4ay series aamining elcctorial pmctices in
thc fuuth 15 yarc aftcr thc ernct-nunt of thz
The articlcs uterc reiearch.ed and wifien 6tribrc Chestcr G@lrick, Paul Liefurman art

"rp of men marching into the Senate Caucus Rmn' reminder of the uncertain future of the Voti{
ond, RS.C., the onetime eegregationist standard-
and eoon-tcbe chairman of the powerful Senar.

.urmond, as ca.meras flashed, marched the RJ
a and. a grolp of other black politicians, rom. oi
rtests in the South.
arge part a media event, a chance for a leader d
he Senate to pose with black politicians who hJ
acy of Ronald Reagan. But the men had also ma
ation, and Abernathy had brought along a writt D
n-ahead of his appeals for continued aftirmativr
rd the like-was that Thurmond use his influenco
Rights Act."
t Lyndon Johneon to counteract literacy te6t6 aDd
acks from political participation in the Sout}-
he c.orning year, C.ongress will debate whether to
'ec which have regulated election practiceo in rhr

Lent-before a dozen television cameras-on rh.
hy repeated his plea. "We let the senator know."
Rights Act is poesiblv one of the mo6t outstandi*
rlach people in this century."
he added "that nobody should be denied the right

1d int€rject€d a note of caution. 'Ye're not herr
year-old eenator said. He added that while he
politicians ia the future, "I'm sure there will bc

in his olioq the previous day, Thurmond had not
with the Voting Rights Act-rhe legislation for
in the 1960s in marches to Selma, Ala., and other
t's unconstitutional," Thurmond said flatly in an

the coagtitutionality of the Voting Rights Act i!
rd's home gtate of S6uth Carolina,-andthe voting
; Iegal challenges eince then.
.he Voting Rrghts Act illegall-v singled out certai.n
rnd imposed exceasive federal control over tbc
ts. The act requiret governments ir covered arear
ice Department or a federal court in Washingtoa
ns tha! might afrect voting.
.om different stat€s," Thurmond said. "th8t arV

;#reXlrll} 
of a countv government or the gtate.

g to contilrue," the Voting Rights Ac't's provisio4p
the South and the few othei areas now covere&

299

* h the weeks since the Nov. 4 national election, Thurmond has talked aeveral
toes about his goals as chairman of the Judiciary C.ommittee. And in the offices of
I voting,section of the U.S. Justice De-partment,-just a mile from the Capitol,
6urmoq4's- comments have drarr-n more than casual interest. An article headlined,

"d"ru Rights Pressed.by.Thurmond-He Favors Repeal of 1965 Voting Act,,, G
it"a up on a bulletin board there beside etaffer6-' ride notices and "adtion
.#tlt'? Ilancock,. the 36year-dd chief of litigation for the voting aection,
-rugged. w!9n.a vis_itor commented recently.on theclipping. "There'a be6n oppoei-
.do to the Votrng iirghts Act from the day it was adopted," he said. ,,It has-Leen

,n11ry1rrtzA as the most effective of the civil rights acts which were passed.,,

,, ,OCUs HAS CHANGED STNCE 1965

, Over 15 years, events have changed the focus ofthe Voting Riehts Act.' when the act was being considered in 1965, its sponsort believed that its most
bportant feature was the suspension of literacy tests that had lonc been used to
Lip blacks from voting in the south. The 15th Amendment to the u.S. constitution
bad outlawed voting 9iscrimination against blacks 95 years earlier, but the percent-
ar of voting oge blacks reg'istered still waq estimited at under B0 peicent in
6orC,-a, under 20 percent in Alabama and less than 7 percent in lfiisaissippi.

ln the f9a Veap after President Johnson signed the act-saying at a Capifol
olremony, "The time for waiting p g_o_le"-more than 1 million bla6ks were *gis-
t red to vote throlrghout the South. While voting reg'istration rateo of blacks ititl
frll belo*' those of whites in many area.s, the lack of registration is no longer the
naior issue.

lncreasingly, the main point of controverEy surrounding the Voting Rights Act
bas become the extraordinary power it gives ihe federal go-vernment oier *ate and
lsl laws.

there are two sources of the power: the frrst is the provision that gtate and local
governments "preclear" in .Washington any changes which could aflect voting-
hom the drawing of voting districts and method of electing candidates down to [he
location of polling places; the second i6 the fact that the buiden of proof is placed on
tbe state or local government to prove the change is not discrimina-tory.

ln upholding the powerful provisions ofthe law, the supreme courtobserved that
tbe purpose of the Voting Rights Act was to "shift the advantages of time and' inertia from the perpetrators of the eyil to its victims.'

S!iU, lt is not only onetime aegregationists like Strom Thurmond who challenge
nrcb federal powers.

"lt remains a serious matter that a aovereign stat€ must submit its legislation to
frderal authorities before it may take effectj' three supreme court jultices com-
roented when asked to rule in 19?3 on a Justice Department chillenge to a
rtatewide redistricting plan-aubmitted by the Georg:ia (ieneral Assemblj. Their
opinion was a minority one, howeler, and the court majority struck down Georgia,s
propooed diltricts because they had "the potential foi diiuting the value ofthe
Negro vote."

The aame basic issues-, which will likely be at the center of debates on the Voting
Rights Act.in 1981, surfaced this year in'another case that made it to the suprem6
Court. At issue were elections in' Rome, Q.., "Td 

a dispute that prevented'Rome
ho:n holding municipal elections for more than srx years.

For 3? y-ears, from 1929 to -1966, the city of 30,000 in north Georg:ia elected
nembers of its commission and board of educition by a Eystem in which i candidate
could win with lees than a- pajoriJy votc. If there riere -several 

candidates running
6r a single qBat, the one with the highest vote simplyaon.Ir 1966, Bome adopted a new dlection systeir-under which a runoff would
determine the winner if no candidate achieved a majority of the vote.

MANY TA.IL TO TEII WAAHINGION

The Atlanta Constitution's_ investigation of election practicee in Georgia found
that manl' communities failed. to submit_voting changes'to washington af ."q"rea
by the Voiing Rights Act-and this *.as the cai ;it;h;;;
-^F fact, the Justice ftpartment did- not leern of the Rome election changes unti.l'1914, eight years after tliey were made. Depsrtment attornevs then obiehid to the
'I|tr{, erght year6 alter they were made. Depsrtment attorneys then objected to the

. . -lP* 6.ystem.a6 pot€ntiall) discriminato4--hrause in the cit;- where 23 percent of
: ; }e population'is-bJack, 

-a. 
change-to el6ction by majority v6te countl'uride dimin-

- - fbed a black candjdate's chances of winning.tes, I think it's unconstitutional," he reiteratla



300

_-The change had, indeed..helped. defeat a popular-.voung blach minister namsd
9lyde Hil] *'ho attempted in i9?0 to become ih" fri.t bLck erec-iJ t"- omil'il
Rome.

. Running for a schml board seat, Hill ceme out ahead of three Ehite candidei'
!,lt ti" total fell ehortof a majority- ln the runofferection, h";';;;iu-"t d.-,mGlackt people became eome*-Iiat iisenctantea,'i .*"tt"a irirr, *rr" -ri""ri"iE
Augusta.

Municipal elections were postponed as the Justice Department's challenge to tbevoting system worked its way thiough the courts.
_3"t: y": nqallegation tirat Roriehad-changed its election system with race iamlnd A tederal district court noted that literac-v teets had not been used to kmi .

!]acls.rronr.yoting; indeed, whites had euen e,icou.aged blacks t" rrr.-aia-i[I
!!u{ fo,u,ngttrat the city had "not discriminated against blacks in the protision}6er,ces. I'be court commented, however, that there was some tristory of "racui
},1.5 vo!.ing" -and that the annexation oi "o-e all-whitc ;ighb.;i# *""" t"a"diluted" the black vote.
._ Finally, last April 22,. the supre-me cor,rrt had rured thar while though no discriD-rnatlon may have been intended, the 1968 vote would have to be scrao;d.ore month after the supreme-court threw out the no-"-"leciioi.,-iystem, tbc
l"-Tl _9So.Crr.city got its'frrsr black city commissioner. 6rt-rri-Ui Jf"ttioo. Iresrgnatron on the commission- created a vacancy and the other members appointei
Napoleon Fielder. a S?-yearold black former staL employee.
.-T-I"n !|is:nollh., with elections condu-cted again undei a plurarit-v system. Fierder .

Decame the lrr6t black ever elected to offrce in Rome. He was the top vote-gettcrin
!lr" Iol 18 Democratic primary, then breezed tt.""if, tf,, Ou"'id5"ii1*"i*tioo_
Lhe tlrst munrcrpal voting in Rome since the legal wrangling began in tg?n.

I he \r'rnnrng candidat€ attributed his success not so much to the Beries of courtcaees as to his ability to get votes from whites. "The more you are kno*a rn thrwhite community,.thi mor"e clance yo, ha"e oibeing el;t dJ'-Fi"iJ"i"ria ,.rrr"r.
was a time when bloc voting happened. but I think ihat people ,rot" fo. ,nhom"rer
they want no*'."

Voting Rights Act unfairly picks on the soutir. Ii" sponso.6d an amerrd-.nent in 1gl5to,exrend the.bill s provisions nationu.ide-meaning that if Rome's eleciions rlen
EubJect to rer-re$', so would those of a cit1. in any state_and he still believes suchrevision is needed.

In the 1960s' Nunn said in a recent i,,ten'ie*,, there may have been "reasonabtl
cayS for tlrgi - Congless ro think there were -o." p.of,l"-s in the So"tt.; nr
31^,]_:_"!l-d F "tfqS'. to. d.rop the protections of the law, but rhat now the reglano longer needs to be ,,singled out.,'

"The nex-t time it comeJup, I wilr renew mr effort ro have it applied to the whdrcountry," Nunn said ;
..grylErr "l-it!-Joti"g section of the Justice Department in Washingto" ,rIr,
3:l^t::[: P^.oq$eni18 of the acr's covera{re would make enforcement cdnsideraif
more difficult-that ir would be impossibie to monitor 

"l;b;;i ;i;;6-;;dE
every state.

"It would be just mind boggring," said Gerald w. Jones, chief of the eection, whil
employs lt^ attorneys and 1? legal ""sistants. "ye have a full workload with ril
we have no\r'.'

. John Mccoon, the attornel' who heads the voting section unit which revier
election changes from areas tovered b.r the Voting fr,lgi,t e"t. oid i,e-ana otll
lepartment ]auyers have attempted to bring voting ii;rlmin"il;;-;r;-- tNorth

NUNN SAYS IA\T BIASED AGAINST AOUTH

G9o.qg U.S Sen. Sam Nunn is one of the people in Congress *.ho argues that tbc

- The.Justice Departmenr ha-s srnce taken some actions in the North rt url]
Iederal- obsen'ers to monitor elections on lndian reservations, and objected ,, lt?ljto a- Ne*'-York State dl.tricting pi"" *irici, -iiti Jii.t"'t["-";i;i;;rt
residents. Mccoon said, boweverl that ir was hari to find cases i" 

-tr," xrrtri
ma_t h thos€ regularly found in the South. "j
. "For a year or so we made u 

"ona"rt 
d effort," he said. "There r*'ere

instances ...,.,but we just did not find the same iacial bloc votinj againii
Y*ry1- said h5 yas surprised_ ';U"""""* prl.rtt disc.imination i""5Gt-as
ln the l\orth-I thought u'e'd find it in voiing "

i-:.
r-r:''

?e
J

lit4
ab
cha

T
bla<

':, a-.r:i 
G:r:' h

i-. t
:-. I

:t?"

:t-:i ql

oo
6(

bL.: r

r!
vic

I
hn- ril

I
his
bla

D
Et'€
"La,1
yalli

st
cuit{
haw
ftre
the r

Fo
tDe
toell
brO.1t
dtb
rid:
FoStIa
Acr I' -t,'



i, t"##ttY?,*ttf" jJ ":i*tli':f :,*rl ;

t, Hill came out ahead of three white candidatr
itv. tn the runoff election, he was defeated. 'itIty. ln the run-oll electron, ne was oereabd. '.1
disenchantcd," recalled Hill, who now livr

rned as the Justice Department's challenge to d
rugh the courts.
ome had changed its election aystem with rae L'
ted that literacy tests had ,"ol ryn used.to .fri
es had even encouraged blacks to run. And thl
rt discriminated against blacks iT .the provisioo {

800

however, that there was some history of
xation of aome all-white neighboring areas

IAW BIltsED AGAINST SOUTH

acent interview, there may have been "reasonabb
rink there rvere more problems in the South." Er
the protections of the law, but that now the regb

.iL"rru* my effort to have it applied to the wbob

of the Justice Department in Washington

'me Crcurt had ruled that while though no discriD
;he 1968 vote would have to be scrapped.
Court threw out the Rome election system, tb

black city commissioner, but not by electiou. I
rated a vacancy and the other memberc appointaa
ack former state employee.
conducted again under a plurality system, Fie[;'

d to oflice in Rome. He was the top vote,getter I
then breezed through the Dec. 2 general electioo-
e gince the legal wrangling began in 19?4.
red his succeas not so much to the series of qnt
x from whites. "The more you are known il tb
ce you have of being elected," Fielder eaid. ''Thct
pened, but I think that people vote for whomerr

one of the people in Congress who argues that tb
on the South. He sponsored an amendment in 194I
rtionwide-meaning that if Rome's elections rut
of a city in any state-and he still believes nd

l's coverage would meke enforcement considerr
impoasible to monitor electoral changes made

1," said Gerald W. Jones, chief of the aection, '

rl assistants. "lVe have a full workload with

'ho heads the voting section unit which rer
:red by the Voting Rights Act, said he and t
pted to bring voting diecrimination casee ia

since taken some actions in the North lt
tions on Indian reservations, and objected il
g plan which might dilut€ the vote of
: that it was hard to frnd cases in the
re South.
r concerted effort." he said. "T'here were i
,t frnd the same racial bloc voting against
because private discrimination is just as
I it in voting."

301

VOTING DISCRIMINATION STILL STRONG

r-? - oDe student ol votrng practtces m the lbuth suggested there contrnueG to be a
.. , . .r'6g war over voting" in the region-and the case studier often reflected euch
::.' Eotlict..

fte Atlanta Constitution's investigation in Georgia found that l5 years afGr thej"tion of the Voting Rights Act, racial diecrimination againat blacks in the',i. Efuon process is still strong in many areas of the state-and often euccessful in
i: Eping blacks far.short of.equal political participation. A series of reports this

:3. -*'I has documented a variety of tra4itions, campaign practices and government-ai. 
=! 

has documented a variety of traditions, campaign practices and government
tla Sons used to perpetuate white control even in majority black areas.
-? -g6e student of voting practices in the Sout} suggested_there-continues to be g

-E-Jt ttre survey of voting practices aLeo found evidence of changing electoral

-ditio*, 
attitudes and practices ahowing blacks moving cloger to equal participa-

f,oo in Southern politics in the years since adoption of the Voting Bights Act.- I ti*i"g of 237 black elecled offrcials in Georgia reflects more than just gains by
N.ck6 in Atlanta and other large cities.
-While 15 of Georgia's 22 counties with majority black populations still have only
1'titee on their county commissions. there also have been a handful of black
ri:tories in tiny, rural communities which have black majorities.'-The small towns of Greenrrille, Wa.lthour, Riceboro, Harrison, Wadley and Whites-

=tr#;: 
,o}1.[Jfr"*. 

Wadley and ltrhitesburs elected their first black mayors

BA. Johnson, an elementary school principal who won the Wadley race, traces
hi victory to passage of the Voting Rights Act 15 years ago. Before that, he said,
I*Ls faded literacy tests given by whites "and we didn't have a whole lot of blacLs
rr rere sure could Pass that."

Johnson said he and other blacks gtarted a vot€r registration drive when the
Ecracy test was ruled out by Congress in 1965. "We have worhers that we pay 51.25
e Uoad to bring people in to register," he said. "A lot of people make eome spare
cDanre that waY."

ltere were ?0 blacks reg:istered to vot€ in Wadley in 1965. Now there are ?10
Urcks rqistered, the nen' mayor said.

TEEPING THE PROCESS AIJVE

David Walbert, a professor at Emorl' University'a School of l,aw who has taken
*veral voting rights cases to court, said he aees the Voting Rights Act at least
aeping the political process alive" in the Deep South.

'The situation is infinitely better than it used to be," he said. "At least people are
Flling at each other."- Sherrill Marcus, director of the Atlanta-based Voter Educstion Project, is not
;urtt as optimistic. He sees the vote as the "moat powerful mechanism black folks
Srve for influence in this country" but also notes that electoral victories are still far
lrer than black population totals would lead him to expect. They "continue to lacL
6c reaources and sophistication to compete," Marcus said.

Former Voter Mucation Project Director John Le*'is r*'as il the front line of the
rane Selma march which urged passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, and for
lrrs headed voting registration drives around the South. Several years ago, he ran
b Congress and lost. The experience has placed him among the optimistic.

'There still is an incapacity on the part of the black population to deal with eome
d the problems in the small towns. We need mor€ vot€r education there," Lewis
dl rec.ently, but he said the Voting Righu Act is "the lifeblood of blacL political
Flsress."- L;*is is expec-ted to be among those lobbying for'renewal of the Voting Rights
Ac{ next year. "If you don't have anylhing like it, there's a real danger of slipping
bcl," be'said "