Statistics of Nonvoting

Low voter registration figures do not necessarily reflect discrimination.Other factors may be involved: for example, poll taxes, a one partypolitical system, inadequate schools, or low economic status. All ofthese and other things as well may contribute to voter "apathy."Nonetheless, in some circumstances low registration figures suggestdiscrimination:

1. Where Negroes comprise a large percentage of an area's population, and yet very few or none at all are registered. (For example,there are two counties in Alabama where Negroes are in a majority ofthe population yet none are registered; four in Louisiana; five inMississippi; two in Georgia.) *

2. Where there has been a sudden and drastic drop in the number ofregistered Negro voters. (For example, Washington, Bienville, andOuachita parishes in Louisiana.) 2

3. Where there are two counties, located near each other, and similar

   in all visible respects, except that registration figures are much lowerin one than in the other. (For example, St. James and St. Helenaparishes in Louisiana.) 3

4. Where there is an active and effective Negro organization attempting to improve conditions, but registration for nonwhites is relativelylow. (For example, Macon County, Alabama, where the TuskegeeCivic Association actively encourages registration of Negroes, butnonwhite registration is still very low.) 4

   In such cases statistics on numbers of registered voters by race provide

   a useful starting point for inquiry into the existence of discrimination.Indeed the Commission's survey of 21 Black Belt counties, discussed inPart III below, was undertaken on the basis of voter registration statistics. Moreover at least one court has indicated that where a majorityof the population in a county is Negro, the fact that not one Negro isregistered must lead to an inference of discrimination. 5 Finally the kindof comparative analysis which such statistics permit may yield clues asto factors other than discrimination which tend to impede or diminishthe exercise of the franchise.

   For all of these reasons, it is desirable that accurate statistics on registration and voting by race be maintained; and for these reasons, the

   Commission has again attempted, as it did in its 1959 Report, to collectand publish the most complete and reliable registration statistics possible.

   Unfortunately, voting figures by race are seldom available. Figuresshowing registration, or the numbers legally qualified to vote, are morereadily obtainable. These, of course, do not give a complete picture,for not all registered voters actually cast their ballots, and among thereasons they do not, may be discrimination. 6 Yet registration figuresdo define the outer limits of possible voting, and if no (or hardly any)Negroes are registered, then necessarily no (or hardly any) Negroesvote. The Commission's efforts, then, have been directed toward thecompilation of registration, not actual voting, statistics. But even inthis area the effort has yielded only limited success, for in many Statesracial figures either are not kept, not collected, or not released.

   Racial breakdowns of registration figures are not generally availablefor two principal reasons. One is that, not recognizing any differencebetween white and Negro voters, some States do not keep figures byrace. On the other hand, several States record racial information inconnection with voter registration but apparently want to conceal whatsuch statistics show. 7 (But not all States that discriminate are secretive;Louisiana, for instance, regularly publishes complete official voting statistics by race.)

   The Commission sought racial registration figures for the 18 Stateswhose laws in 1954 permitted or required racially segregated publicschool systems: Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Kansas,Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina,Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, and WestVirginia.

   Four of the States2014Kansas, Kentucky, Missouri, and Oklahoma2014do not appear to keep registration records by race. Since the Commission has not received any complaints or other indications from theseStates that anyone has been denied his right to vote because of his race,color, creed, or national origin, it seems fair to infer that the lack of racialrecords betokens no desire for concealment, and that any racial problems that may exist in the States have not spilled over perceptively intothe voter registration process. In all of the remaining 14 States registration records of some sort are kept by race, although there are substantial differences in the way they are kept, in the governmental levelon which they are compiled, and in official attitudes toward making thedata public.

   In three States2014Louisiana (where there is substantial discrimination), Florida (where there is some), and Virginia (where there appearsto be none)2014official statistics are compiled on the State level by countyand by race. (Virginia's figures are estimates sent in by the localofficials to the State Board of Elections.)

   In Maryland, where there have been no complaints, and in NorthCarolina and Tennessee, where there have been a few, local officialskeep racially identified voter registration records, but these are not compiled or published on either the State or the county level. These figurescan, however, generally be obtained from the local officials. The Commission's Advisory Committee in North Carolinia obtained completefigures for that State; in Maryland, with the assistance of the AdvisoryCommittee, the Commission also obtained complete figures; and inTennessee in the same manner, a fair proportion of the figures wereobtained.

   In Arkansas and Texas (the Commission has received no votingcomplaints from either), registration figures can be obtained from polltax receipt records. Arkansas compiles these on the State level, andthe State Auditor publishes them. In Texas these figures are kept bythe County Tax Assessor-Collectors, but they are neither compiled norpublished. However, by questionnaire the Commission has been ableto obtain the figures for most Texas counties.

   Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, and South Carolina...