® p. NEWS VOTER EDUCATI ON PROJECT SEPTEMBER 1968 VOL. 2, NO. 9 Southern Regional Council, Inc. 5 Forsyth St., N.W. Atlanta, Ga. 30303 OVER 3 MILLION NEGROES ON VOTING LISTS IN SOUTH More than three million Negroes are on the registration show a total Negro registration of 3,112,000 in 11 Southern rolls in the South for the 1968 presidential election, according states. This is an increase of 947,800 over Negro registration to newly prepared figures of the Voter Education Project of in the South for the 1964 presidential election. the Southern Regional Council. Negro registration in the region now is 16.5 per cent of Figures compiled during the spring and summer of 1968 the total, as against 13.2 per cent in 1964. White registration stands at 15,702,000 in the region, up from 14,264,000 in 1964. However, much of the increase b-acKofficial S'' in white registration has occurred in Texas, and is attributed in large part to registration of Mexican-Americans. Sixty-two per cent of all voting-age black persons in the region and 78.1 per cent of all eligible whites are registered TO MEET DEC. 11-14 to vote. Only 43.3 per cent of the Negro voting age popu­ The Rev. John Morris, former executive director of the lation was registered in 1964. Episcopal Society for Cultural and Racial Unity (ESCRU), In Mississippi, where Negroes comprised the smallest per­ has joined the Voter Education Project staff to coordinate a centage of voters in any Southern state four years ago, blacks “Southwide Conference of Black Elected Officials” planned now have greater voting strength than in any of the other in Atlanta Dec. 11-14. 10 states. The ratio of Negro-to-white voters has climbed Morris is in charge of planning the program and making from 5.2 per cent to 26.6 per cent. Only 6.7 per cent arrangements for some 225 Southern Negro officeholders of voting age Negroes was registered in 1964, compared with expected at the conference at the Dinkier Hotel. The South­ 59.4 per cent today. wide conference will be similar to VEP’s Louisiana and In South Carolina, the Negro registration figure has been Mississippi institutes for black elected officials. Negro elected brought back to 189,000—the same number who were regis­ officials across the South will be invited. tered when statewide re-registration began a little over a year In a preliminary invitation to Negro officeholders Oct. 3, ago. White registration, on the other hand, has dropped by VEP director Vernon Jordan said: “As an outgrowth of 143,000 to 587,000. the Voter Education Project’s various programs in recent The Voter Education Project is publishing county-by- years, this unprecedented meeting will focus on both general county registration figures, by race, for seven states. The four problems common to Negro elected officials, as well as on states not included are Texas, Arkansas, Tennessee and the specific duties of each category of public office.” Virginia. Copies of the booklet may be obtained by writing (Continued on page 4) VEP. VOTER REGISTRATION IN THE SOUTH SPRING-SUMMER, 1968 White Negro White % White VAP Negro % Negro VAP % VAP* VAP Registered Registered Registered Registered Negro ALABAMA ______1,353,058 481,320 1,117,000 82.5 273,000 56.7 19.6 ARKANSAS ______850,643 192,626 640,000 75.2 13^0,000 67.5 16.9 FLORIDA ...... ___ 2,617,438 470,261 2,195,000 83.8 292,000 62.1 11.7 GEORGIA ______...... 1,797,062 612,910 1,524,000 84.7 344,000 56.1 18.4 LOUISIANA ...... 1,289,216 514,589 1,133,000 87.9 305,000 59.3 21.2 MISSISSIPPI ______748,266 422,256 691,000 92.4 251,000** 59.4 26.6 N. CAROLINA ______2,005,955 550,929 1,579,000 78.7 305,000 55.3 16.2 S. CAROLINA _.... . ____ 895,147 371,873 587,000 65.6 189,000 50.8 24.5 TENNESSEE ...... ___ 1,779,018 313,873 1,448,000 81.3 228,000 72.6 13.6 TEXAS ______4.884,765 649,512 3,532,000 72.3 540,000 83.1 13.2 VIRGINIA ______1,876.167 436,720 1,256,000 67.0 255,000 58.4 16.9 TOTALS ______20,096,735 5,016,100 15,702,000 78.1 3,112,000 62.0 16.5 *VAP = Voting Age Population **Corrects mathematical error in previous table. 1964: 13.2% DIRECTOR’S DIRECT LINE Voter Education Project 68 Results ADVISORY COMMITTEE Could Depend Southern Regional Council, Inc. 5 Forsyth Street, NW, Atlanta, Ga. 30303 On Black Vote Dr. Samuel D. Cook Chairman Paul Anthony Norman Hill As reported elsewhere in this issue of V. E. P. News, more H. A. (Hank) Brown Frank Smith than three million Negroes in the South are registered to vote Dr . C. G. Gomillion Russell Sugarmon in next month’s presidential election. This is 161/2 per cent Dr . Vivian W. Henderson Dr . C. H. Thomas, Jr . of the total registration in the region, or about one out of Jesse Hill John Wheeler every six voters in the South. At a glance 1612 per cent might not sound like a politically Ver non E. Jorda n, Jr . Director influential force. But given the vast uncertainties of the 1968 election formula, this one-sixth might very well decide how the South’s 128 electoral votes are cast. There are ample recent historical grounds for saying this. In 1964, the Negro share of the South’s vote _ was even smaller 2 STATES HOLD than it is this year. Four years ago, black registration was only 13.2 per cent of the regional total. Yet a 1964 study by the Southern Regional Council found that the Negro vote in the FINAL PRIMARIES presidential election tipped four states into the Johnson column. These states were Arkansas, Florida, Tennessee, The last 1968 party primaries and primary runoffs in the and Virginia. One other state, North Carolina, might have South were held in Georgia and Louisiana in September. gone to Goldwater by a narrow margin if it had not been for The Georgia joint Democratic and Republican primary the Democratic ballots cast by Negro voters. was Sept. 11, and a Democratic primary runoff was held It is even more probable that the Negro vote, now nearly Sept. 25. Louisiana’s Democratic primary runoff was Sept. one million stronger in the South, can be the balance of 28. power in 1968. This year instead of two major candidates While 32 Negro candidates will be in the running in for President there are three. There will be an even closer Georgia Nov. 5, only nine will have arrived there by over­ division of the white vote. Each of the major candidates— coming opposition in the Sept. 11 primary. Four others who Mr. Nixon, Mr. Wallace, and Mr. Humphrey—can claim (on made it into the runoff Sept. 25 were defeated in the second grounds that we will not take the time to discuss here) a election. sizeable white following in most of the 11 Southern states. It An Atlanta Negro attorney, Maynard H. Jackson Jr., is reasonable to assume, therefore, that Negro voters could polled 206,000 votes in a statewide race Sept. 11 against very well decide the issue in a half-dozen or so Southern Sen. Herman E. Talmadge. Talmadge, who faces Republican states. opposition for the first time this fall, won by 488,000 votes. Much of this hinges, of course, on how well Negroes turn Four candidates in Democratic primary races for the out Nov. 5. To be sure, black turn-outs in some of the state House of Representatives—including incumbent John primaries this summer were disappointing. This was true in Hood of Atlanta—defeated their opponents. The Atlanta Georgia, South Carolina, and several other states. metropolitan area county of DeKalb will be represented by As we have said several times before in this space, registra­ a Negro for the first time next winter with the election of tion is but one step in becoming involved in the political the primary winner, who defeated a Negro opponent. The process. Important as it is, registration alone stands for very other winners were in Fulton County and in Chatham County. little. Registration must be followed by a pattern of voting Chatham also has never had a Negro representative in the in each and every election. Indeed, many states require (in Legislature. theory, at least) regular voting by removing the names of As a rule, Georgia’s successful Negro candidates were in non-voters from registration lists. the largest metropolitan areas. The exception was Hancock To be sure, Negroes are at a marked disadvantage in County, where Negroes outnumber whites about 3-to-2. All getting voters to the polls. Many community organizations three Negro candidates won, including an incumbent county across the South have told us that they do not have the money commissioner, a new candidate for county commission and and the means to get people to the voting places. This is, of a young woman running for ordinary. course, but one more example of the discriminatory political Other primary winners were candidates for county com­ and social tax that Negroes in the South are forced to pay mission in Bibb and Chatham counties. because they are severely disadvantaged economically. Thirty-one black candidates lost to whites and three others Unfortunately the Voter Education Project cannot supply lost their races to Negroes. In Taliaferro and Sumter counties, funds for get-out-the-vote programs. We have had many re­ Negroes failed to get enough petition signatures to get their quests for such assistance. We are bound to say, always, that names on the ballot. A black candidate for sheriff in Sumter we are not permitted to use our funds to support get-out-the- County was forced to move to another city because of vote efforts. harassing phone calls to his pregnant wife. Organizationally, however, Negroes can take more effec­ The only Negro running in Louisiana’s Democratic pri­ tive steps now to increase voter turn-outs. This is a subject mary runoff Sept. 28 received 12,000 white votes—enough about which more will be said in the future. For the moment, combined with black votes to make him the first Negro however, community leaders would do well to get the VEP nominee to the East Baton Rouge Parish council. booklet, “How To Conduct a Registration Campaign,” and A recount showed that a black candidate for the Jackson use the same outline for setting up a get-out-the-vote pro­ Parish school board did not receive enough votes to get into gram. If you’ll write us, we’ll be happy to send you a copy a runoff. of the booklet.—VERNON E. JORDAN JR. MORE THAN 100 BLACK CANDIDATES NOV. 5

BY JANET WELLS The names of at least 113 black candidates will be on the other Negro independent is running against a Negro Demo­ ballots in 11 Southern states Nov. 5. And if a suit filed by crat for a Memphis House seat. the National Democratic Party of Alabama in federal court There are two other candidates for the House and one for is successful, the number of black candidates will increase the Senate from Memphis, two for the House from Knoxville substantially with the addition of 91 names to that state’s and one for the House from Chattanooga. ballots. Fourteen Negroes are running in the Arkansas general Not counting the NDPA candidates, the Negroes running and city elections. for office include 41 candidates for state house of repre­ The five black candidates for the state House of Repre­ sentatives, nine for state senates, and three independents sentatives include two from Little Rock and one each from running for the U. S. House of Representatives. Forrest City, Marvell and Dermott. There are four candi­ Ten Negroes who survived the May 7 Alabama primary dates for justice of the peace in Pulaski County and one in will be running Nov. 5. They include three candidates for Crittenden County. In Pine Bluff two Negroes are running precinct constable in Jefferson County; one for board of as independents for the board of aidermen, and in Helena’s revenue, two for justice of the peace and one for school board Nov. 5 non-partisan city election, there also are two black in Macon County; one for school board in Bullock County; candidates for aidermen. one for constable in Lauderdale County, and one for justice In Texas, five Negroes, including three incumbents, are of the peace in Pike County. running for the state Legislature. Ninety-one persons, including candidates for presidential Two of the incumbents, State Sen. Barbara Jordan and elector and for U.S. House of Representatives from each of Rep. Curtis Graves, both of Houston, are unopposed. State Alabama’s eight congressional districts, are seeking to get Rep. Zan W. Holmes, elected June 18 to fill the unexpired their names on the general election ballot under the label of term of the late Joe Lockridge, faces Republican opposition. the NDPA. Secretary of State Mabel Amos has refused to A Negro Republican from Houston and one from Dallas certify all but two of the state level candidates and a number are seeking state House seats. of others on the local level. Three Negro Democrats are running against white Repub­ A decision on whether NDPA candidates’ names would be licans for the Florida House of Representatives from Dade, on the ballot was expected by Oct 11. The case was heard Broward and Palm Beach counties. Other Negro candidates Sept. 30 by a three-judge panel in the U.S. District Court in are running for county commission in Dade County, county Montgomery. prosecutor in Broward County and constable in Duval NDPA candidates are seeking local offices in 17 counties, County. and one is running for state house of representatives from At least nine black candidates are running in North Madison County. No one is sure how many of the 91 candi­ Carolina. dates are white, but probably about 15 are. A Greensboro attorney and a minister from Winston- In Georgia, 32 Negro candidates—most of them for the Salem are seeking state House seats. Winston-Salem (For­ state Legislature and several of them opposing other Negroes syth County) also has a black candidate for state district —will be on the ballot Nov. 5. judge and for the school board. There are 18 black candidates for the State House of There are two Negro candidates for county commission Representatives. Two are from Augusta, one from Columbus, and one for school board in Durham County. There also one from Savannah and the rest from Atlanta. are black candidates for school board in Guilford and Vance Three of the five black candidates for the state Senate are counties. seeking the same Fulton County seat. Incumbent Sen. Horace Ten Negroes will be seeking office in Louisiana Nov. 5. Ward of Atlanta is running unopposed, and ,a Negro at­ They include a candidate for parish council in East Baton torney from Macon is running against a white Republican. Rouge Parish, two candidates for school board in Madison There are two Negroes running for county commission in Parish and one for school board in West Feliciana Parish. Chatham County and in Hancock County and one each in The Negro incumbent town marshal of Patterson is running Bibb and Muscogee counties. Hancock also has a candidate for re-election. for ordinary. Other candidates throughout the state are in­ Due to a court order for reapportionment of East Carroll dependents running for coroner in Baker and Clay counties Parish, the primary election there was postponed until Nov. in southwest Georgia. 5. Running in that election will be two primary candidates In Virginia, three Negroes are running as independents for for school board, in addition to two incumbent Negro police the U.S. Congress. jurors and one black member of the school board who must The Rev. J. Cornelius Fauntleroy of Newport News is be re-elected from the parish at large. running against incumbent Rep. Thomas N. Downing in the Negroes in four South Carolina counties are candidates First District. S. W. Tucker of Emporia is running his third for local offices. consecutive race against Fourth District Rep. Watkins M. In Beaufort County there are three black candidates for Abbitt. county council, two for school board and two for magistrate, Mrs. Ruth Harvey Charity is opposing two white males A Negro is running for county council in Fairifeld County, for the Fifth District seat held by retiring Congressman for school board in Newberry County and for coroner in William M. Tuck. Florence County. Fourteen black candidates in Tennessee’s four major cities Although no black candidates won primaries in Mississippi are running for office in the general election. All except two June 4, Negroes in a number of counties were expected to candidates for constable in Knoxville are seeking seats in file nominating petitions by the Oct. 6 deadline for county the state Legislature. school board posts. September 26 was the deadline for filing In Nashville, where there are also two Negro candidates to run for county election commission, made an elective for the state House, a black independent has filed to run office for the first time by a new Mississippi law. Elections against the Negro Democratic nominee for the Senate. An­ for both offices will be Nov. 5. OVER 500 ATTEND SCVEP MEETING More than 500 representatives of South Carolina county voter registration projects met in Orangeburg Sept. 21 to discuss getting out the Negro vote in November. They heard Georgia state Rep. Julian Bond call for racial solidarity in voting. , Bond delivered the main address at the one-day meeting sponsored by the South Carolina Voter Education Project. The Reverend John Morris Titled “The Negro in the Mainstream of Politics,” the con­ ference was held at South Carolina State College. Bond was head of the loyalist delegation which replaced SOUTHWIDE MEET half of the regular Georgia delegation at the Democratic convention in August. During the summer he worked for (Continued from page 1) VEP as a research associate. . A planning session for the conference was held in Atlanta “Racial self-interest, racial consciousness and racial soli­ Sept. 28. Participating were Nils R. Douglas of New Orleans, darity must always be paramount in the deeds and words of chairman of the Louisiana Voter Education Project; Dr. the black political animal,” Bond told the group, which also Vivian Henderson, president of Clark College and a member included more than 200 students. of the VEP’s advisory committee; Mrs. Taunya L. Banks of “If self-interest is forgotten, then organized racism will Jackson, Miss., director of the Mississippi Center for Black continue to dominate and frustrate the best of organized Elected Officials, a VEP project; Mississippi state Rep. political actions of any group of black people and will leave Robert Clark; Richmond, Va., City Councilman Henry them powerless and defenseless,” he said. Marsh; Dr. Samuel Cook of Duke University, chairman of Forty counties were represented at the conference. Regis­ the VEP’s advisory committee; James Felder, director of the tration was 285 for the morning session and reached 553 by South Carolina VEP; Georgia state Sen. Horace Ward; afternoon. Michael Chanin, director of Clark College’s Southern Cen­ The purpose and main emphasis of the program was to ter for Studies in Public Policy, and Georgia state Rep. Julian encourage local projects to work for a large turnout of Negro Bond, former research associate with the VEP. voters Nov. 5. All attended except Rep. Bond, who was out of town and Participants in panel discussions included three black submitted his suggestions in a letter. delegates to the Democratic convention from South Carolina Born in Brunswick, Ga., Morris was graduated from and representatives of the Democratic and Republican par­ Columbia University and received his bachelor of divinity ties speaking on behalf of their national candidates. A repre­ degree from Virginia Theological Seminary in 1954. From sentative of the American Independent Party and candidate his ordination as an Episcopal priest in 1954 until 1958, he George Wallace was invited but did not attend. was vicar of a church in Dillon, S.C. The convention adopted four resolutions. The first de­ In 1957 he was an editor ■ of “South Carolinians Speak,’’ clared that the federal investigation of the violence at South a book appealing for an end to resistance to racial change in Carolina State last spring, when three students were killed that state. by police, was not satisfactory. A founder of ESCRU, Morris served as its executive Other resolutions expressed dissatisfaction with South director in Atlanta from 1958 until 1967. Carolina’s abuse of the freedom-of-choice plan of desegre­ Last January Morris received ESCRU’s Bishop Lichten­ gation; called for all major state and national candidates to berger Human Rights Award. He is married and has four give their definitions of “law and order,” and called for the children. state’s voting age to be lowered from 21 to 18.

V.E.P. News Vol. 2 No. 9 SOUTHERN REGIONAL COUNCIL, INC. 5 Forsyth Street, N.W. Atlanta, Georgia 30303 (Address Correction Requested) Mr. John H. Wheeeer Durham Committee on Negro Affairs Box 1932 Durham, N. C. 27702