Political Participation
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U.S. COMMISSION ON CIVIL RIGHTS The U.S. Commission on Civil Rights is a temporary, indepen dent, bipartisan agency established by Congress in 1957 and directed to: • Investigate complaints alleging that citizens are being de prived of their right to vote by reason of their race, color, religion, or national origin, or by reason of fraudulent practices; • Study and collect information concerning legal develop ments constituting a denial of equal protection of the laws under the Constitution; • Appraise Federal laws and policies with respect to equal protection of the laws; • Serve as a national clearinghouse for information in respect to denials of equal protection of the laws; and • Submit reports, findings, and recommendations to the President and the Congress. Members of the Commission JoHN A. HANNAH, Chairman EUGENE PATTERSON, Vice Chairman FRANKIE M. FREEMAN REV. THEODORE M. HESBURGH, C.S.C. ROBERT S. RANKIN WILLIAM L. TAYLOR, Staff Director CRI.2, P75/3 • POLITICAL PARTICIPATION A study of the participation by Negroes in the electoral and political processes in 10 Southern States since passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 United States Commission on Civil Rights Washington, D.C. May 1968 For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office Washington, D.C. 20402- Price 75 cents Letter of Transmittal THE U.S. COMMISSIONON CML RIGHTS Washington, D.C., May 1968 THE PRESIDENT THE PRESIDENTOF THE SENATE THE SPEAKEROF THE HousE oF REPRESENTATIVES SIRS: The Commission on Civil Rights presents to you this report pursuant to Public Law 85-315, as amended. This report deals with political participation by Negroes since the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.The information in the report was obtained by the Commission primarily from field investigations and analysis of the files of the U.S. Department of Justice. The Com mission has found that the Voting Rights Act has resulted in a great upsurge in voter registration, voting, and other forms of political participation by Negroes in the South. In many areas, there has been voluntary compliance. Nevertheless, many new barriers to full and equal political partici pation have arisen, including measures or practices diluting the votes of Negroes, preventing Negroes from becoming candidates, discrimi nating against Negro registrants and poll watchers, and discriminating against Negroes in the appointment of election officials. Intimidation and economic dependence in many areas of the South continue to prevent Negroes from exercising their franchise or running for office fully and freely. Negroes still are excluded from the affairs of many State and local party organizations or feel unwelcome. Neither the Democratic nor the Republican national party organization has taken adequate steps to deal with this problem. We urge your consideration of the facts presented and the recommendations for corrective action. Respectfully yours, JoHN A. HANNAH, Chairman EucENE PATTERSON,Vice Chairman FRANKIEM. FREEMAN REV. THEODOREM. HESBURGH,C.S.C. ROBERTs. RANKIN WILLIAML. TAYLOR,Staff Director iii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Letter of Transmittal . m Acknowledgments. v1 Introduction . vu Part I. History of Negro Political Participation. I Part II. Progress Under the Voting Rights Act of 1965. 11 Part III. Obstacles to Negro Participation in the Electoral and Political Processes . 19 Chapter I. Diluting the Negro Vote............. 21 Chapter 2. Preventing Negroes from Becoming Candidates or Obtaining Office. 40 Chapter 3. Discrimination Against Negro Regis- trants..................................... 60 Chapter 4. Exclusion of and Interference with Negro Poll Watchers. 85 Chapter 5. Vote Fraud........................ 95 Chapter 6. Discriminatory Selection of Election Officials . 99 Chapter 7. Intimidation and Economic Depend- ence ...................................... 115 Part IV. Negro Participation in Democratic and Repub- lican Party Affairs. 133 Part V. Enforcement of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. 153 Findings . I 71 Conclusion . 177 Recommendations. 180 Appendix I. The Constitutional Duty of Political Parties Not to Discriminate on the Grounds of Race or Color. I 92 Appendix II. Applicability of Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act to Party Rules...................... 198 Appendix III. Authority to Assign Observers to Party Meetings and Conventions. 200 Appendix IV. Voting Rights Act of 1965........... 202 Appendix V. Observation of Elections Under the Voting Rights Act of 1965 . 212 Appendix VI. Negroes Holding Public Office in the South........................................ 214 Appendix VII. Voter Registration Statistics. 222 V Acknowledgments The Commission is indebted to Frank R. Parker, Staff Attorney, who worked under the direction of Howard A. Glickstein, General Counsel, and David Rubin, Deputy General Counsel, in the preparation of this report. The Commission also is grateful to the following mem bers and former members of the professional staff of the Office of General Counsel who assisted in the preparation of this report: Paul S. Adler, Sophie Eilperin, Vernon S. Gill, Peter W. Gross, David H. Hunter, Mordecai Johnson, Ivan E. Levin, Roger Lowenstein, Richard T. Seymour, and Stephanie Wenkert. The Commission expresses its appreciation to the following mem bers and former members of the secretarial staff of the Office of General Counsel: Edna Bush, Treola Grooms, Sandra Hall, Mary Hanson, Lorraine Johnson, Celestine Sledd, Naomi Tinsley, Ruth Whitaker, and Sheila Wilson. The Commission is indebted to the following additional staff members and former staff members who assisted in the preparation of statistical material and in preparing the manuscript for publication: Robert Amidon, Edward Beis, George Bradley, Harold Culmer, Sara Green, Hedy Harris, Eleanor Horne, Gay Johnson, Bruce Newman, Leda Rothman, Everett Santos, John Ulfelder, and Howard Wu. Vl Introduction In the first week of March 1965 Negro and white demonstrators attempting to march from Selma, Alabama to Montgomery, the State capital, to dramatize their appeal for full voting rights, were attacked and tear-gassed by Alabama law enforcement officers. Five months later the Voting Rights Act of 1965 was signed into law. In enacting the Voting Rights Act, Congress placed on the statute books for the first time an effective instrument for meeting the problem of racial discrimination against Negro applicants for voter registration. As a result of the Act, Negro voter registration in the South has risen substantially. In this study the Commission sought to determine the extent to which unregistered Negroes in the South have since registered to vote; the extent to which the newly registered Negroes in the South are voting; whether those who are voting are encountering obstacles because of their race; whether, and to what extent, obstacles confront Negro candidates and prospective Negro candidates for public and party office; and the extent to which Negroes are participating fully in party affairs. The ob jective of the Commission study was to determine whether any changes in Federal law or policy are necessary to guarantee to Negroes in the South the right to vote and participate fully and freely in political activity. This study was begun in November 1966. Since that time Commission attorneys and other staff members have visited 55 counties in 10 South ern States ( Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia). They inter viewed Negro political and civil rights leaders, Negro candidates for office, and Negro voters, and met with leading party officials at the State and county level in each State visited. Visits were made to counties with histories of racial discrimination against Negroes in the voter registration process or in which racial dis crimination occurring since the Voting Rights Act had been reported. Among the counties visited were those in which Negroes had been elected to office and those in which Negroes had been defeated for elective office, those to which Federal examiners and Federal election observers au thorized by the Voting Rights Act had been dispatched, and those to which these F ecleral officials had not been sent. An effort was made to Vll obtain a geographic distribution of counties visited within each State, and to visit urban as well as rural areas. In preparing this report, Commission staff interviewed U.S. Depart ment of Justice officials and officials of National, State, and local political parties and reviewed Department of Justice files, Federal observer re ports, and judicial opinions, pleadings, and evidence in pending litigation relating to the subject of Negro political participation. The material in this report is based primarily on the 1966 elections in the States studied. Allegations arising out of the 1967 elections have been included, although many have not been investigated by Commission staff. It should be stressed that this study does not purport to be a complete catalog of all progress in or obstacles to Negro participation in the elec toral and political processes of the Southern States. The incidents de scribed in this report are intended to characterize the typical difficulties experienced by Negro candidates and voters in the South because of their race since the passage of the Voting Rights Act. PART I History of Negro Political Participation Since the franchise was first guaranteed to Negroes, there has been a history in the South of efforts to render the