Volume 18: Voting in the 2004 Elections

Voting Rights

Today, most citizens register to vote without regard to race or color by signing their name and address on something like a postcard when, for example, they get a driver's license. But it was not always so.
Prior to the passage of the federal Voting Rights Act in 1965, some states maintained elaborate voter registration procedures which were part of an entire system whose primary purpose was to deny the vote to those who were not White.

Blacks who tried to register, along with their families, were routinely intimidated and harassed by various state, county, and local police forces—all White of course. Sometimes they were even arrested on false charges.

Throughout the deep South, White businesses, employers, banks, and landlords were organized into White Citizens Councils who imposed economic retaliation against non-Whites who tried to vote. And if economic pressure proved insufficient, the Ku Klux Klan was ready with violence and mayhem.

A Typical Alabama Registration Process

In the rural counties where most folk lived, you had to go down to the courthouse to register. The Registrar's Office was only open two or three days each month for a couple of hours, usually in the morning or afternoon. You had to take off work—with or without your employer's permission—to register. And if a White employer gave such permission, or failed to fire an African-American who tried to vote, he could be driven out of business by economic retaliation from the Citizens Council.

On the occasional registration day, the county Sheriff and his deputies made it their business to hang around the courthouse to discourage "undesirables" from trying to register. This meant that Black women and men had to run a gauntlet of intimidation, insults, and threats just to get to the registration office. Once in the Registrar's Office they faced hatred, humiliation, and harassment from clerks and officials.

The Alabama Application Form and oaths you had to take were four pages long. You had to swear that your answers to every single question were true under penalty of perjury. And you knew that the information you entered on the form would be passed on to the Citizens Council and KKK.

Many counties used what they called the "voucher system." You had to have someone who was already a registered voter "vouch" for you—under oath and penalty of perjury—that you met the residency qualification to vote. In some counties this "supporting witness" had to accompany you to the Registrar's Office, in others they were interviewed elsewhere. Some counties limited the number of new applicants a registered voter could vouch for in a given year to two or three. Since no White voter would dare vouch for a Black applicant, in counties where only a handful of African-Americans were already registered only a few more each year could be added to the rolls. And in counties were no African-Americans were registered, none ever could because they had no one to vouch for them.

In addition to completing the application and swearing the oaths, you had to pass the actual "Literacy Test" itself. This was usually a three-part oral and written quiz:

• In "Part A" you were given a section of the Constitution to read. The Registrar could choose any section, an easy one containing only one or two sentences or a long, hard, complicated one. You then had to interpret it orally to his satisfaction.
• In "Parts B" and "C," you had to answer two different sets of written questions.
  Your application was then reviewed by the three-member Board of Registrars—often in secret at a later date. They voted on whether or not you passed. It was entirely up to the judgment of the Board whether you passed or failed. If you were White and missed every single question they could still pass you if—in their sole judgment—you were "qualified." If you were Black and got every one correct, they could still flunk you if they considered you "unqualified."

Your name was published in the local newspaper listing of those who had applied to register. That was to make sure that all of your employers, landlords, mortgage-holders, bank loan officers, business-suppliers, etc., were kept informed of this important event. And, of course, all of the information on your application was quietly passed under the table to the White Citizens Council and KKK for appropriate action. Their job was to encourage you to withdraw your application—or withdraw yourself out of the county—by whatever means they deemed necessary.

Some people ask how anyone, White or Black, ever got through this mess to actually register? A good question. As a matter of public record, White registration in Alabama was very high, while Black registration was minuscule. In the counties where African-Americans were the majority of the population, White registration was close to, or over, 100% (in some cases as high as 115%), while Black registration was zero or close to it.

White registration could be over 100% because when White voters died or moved out of the area their names were kept on the voting list. Oddly enough, many of them (even the dead ones), still somehow managed to actually vote (usually for the incumbent) every election day. This was commonly referred to as the "tombstone vote" and to the local politicians it was a miracle of Southern democracy.

Copyright © 2002-2003 Civil Rights Movement Veterans. Reprinted with permission. For more information visit their Web site at www.crmvet.org.

Sample Alabama Literacy Test

"B"

1. What body can try impeachments of the president of the United States?

_______________________________________________________

2. Check the applicable definition for responsibility:
_____ a duty
_____ a speech
_____ failure

3. Name the attorney general of the United States.

_______________________________________________________

4. Women may now serve on juries in Alabama state courts.

_______________________________________________________

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"C"

1. If a person charged with treason denies his guilt, how many persons must testify against him before he can be convicted?

_______________________________________________________

2. At what time of day on January 20 each four years does the term of the president of the United States end?

_______________________________________________________

3. If the president does not wish to sign a bill, how many days is he allowed in which to return it to Congress for reconsideration?

_______________________________________________________

4. If a bill is passed by Congress and the president refuses to sign it and does not send it back to Congress in session within the specified period of time, is the bill defeated or does it become law?

_______________________________________________________

Questions

1) Look at the sample "literacy" test above. What do you think about it?
2) Can you answer any of the questions on the test? Try and then check the answers below.
3) Do you think it was fair to have people take this test in order to register to vote? Why or why not?
4) Do you think this test can show if someone can read or write? What makes you think so?
5) Does this test look like anything else you have seen?

Answers

For test "B": 1) Senate 2) a duty 3) currently the attorney general of the U.S. is John Ashcroft, at the time this test was used the attorney general was Nicholas Katzenbach. 4) True
For test "C": 1) Two 2) 12 noon 3) Ten 4) It becomes law unless Congress adjourns before the expiration of 10 days.

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