NAACP, DeKalb County Chapter v. Georgia

494 F. Supp. 668, 1980 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 11845
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. Georgia
DecidedJune 11, 1980
DocketCiv. A. Nos. C80-128A, C80-582A
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 494 F. Supp. 668 (NAACP, DeKalb County Chapter v. Georgia) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. Georgia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
NAACP, DeKalb County Chapter v. Georgia, 494 F. Supp. 668, 1980 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 11845 (N.D. Ga. 1980).

Opinion

ORDER

SHOOB, District Judge.

These consolidated cases are before this Court (as the originating court) on remand from the three-judge panel for the purpose of taking evidence. See 28 U.S.C. § 2284(bX3). An evidentiary hearing was held before this Court on May 5, 1980, at which oral testimony was taken and various exhibits were admitted. After the hearing, the parties submitted proposed findings of facts and conclusions of law; other documents, including an affidavit by defendant Marcus, and an amicus curiae brief by the DeKalb County Democratic Committee, have also been filed. A transcript of the evidentiary hearing (“TR”) has been prepared for use by the parties, this Court, and the other members of the panel. These have all been considered by this Court in making its Findings of Facts below.

The issue before the three-judge panel in these consolidated cases is whether the January 22, 1980 decision by defendant DeKalb County Board of Registrations and Elections not to consider any applications from persons or organizations to conduct neighborhood voter registration drives, is covered under § 5 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, 42 U.S.C. § 1973c, and thus whether federal preclearance of the decision is required. The facts found below are only those that are relevant to the issue whether the Board has enacted, or sought to administer, “any voting qualification or prerequisite to voting, or standard, practice, or procedure with respect to voting different from that in force or effect on November 1, 1964

FINDINGS OF FACT

A. Parties

In Civil Action No. C80-128A, plaintiff National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, DeKalb County Chapter (“NAACP”), is a community organization whose application to conduct neighborhood voter registration drives for the 1980 elections was denied at the January 22, 1980 meeting of the DeKalb County Board of Registrations and Elections. TR, p. 62. In the consolidated case, Civil Action No. C80582A, plaintiff DeKalb County League of Women Voters, Inc. (“League”), is a nonprofit corporation which promotes political responsibility through the active, informed participation of citizens in government. League’s Complaint, p. 2, ¶ 3. Plaintiff League was also denied the opportunity to conduct voter registration drives on three of the four dates for which it had applied. Plaintiff League’s Exhibit 2, Minutes of the Board of Registrations and Elections, 1979-80, Meeting of January 22, 1980, pp. 2-4.1 [670]*670The other named plaintiffs in Civil Action No. C80-128A are adult black electors, male and female, of DeKalb County (NAACP’s Complaint, pp. 2-3); the additional named plaintiffs in Civil Action No. C80-582A are adult females, black and white, who wish to be appointed deputy registrars by defendant Board for the purpose of conducting neighborhood voter registration drives. League’s Complaint, p. 2.

Defendant DeKalb County Board of Registrations and Elections (“Board”) was created by state statute, 1978 Ga.Laws, p. 3677, and its members to'pk office on July 1, 1979. This Board is responsible for the registration of electors in DeKalb County and, with respect to that function, is the successor to the DeKalb County Board of Registrars (also referred to, for convenience’ sake, as “Board”). League’s Complaint, p. 2, ¶ 7; Answer, p. 2, ¶ 3. See Ga.Code Ann. Title'-34, Chapter 6. Defendants Suzette Gooch, Theodore Lee Marcus, Robert Lee Bailey, Jr., Edward R. Golden, and William M. Brashear are the five current members of the defendant Board of Registrations and Elections. League’s Complaint at p. 2, ¶ 6. Each is sued individually and in his or her official capacity. Ms. Gooch is Chairperson of the Board.

B. Voter Registration Patterns in DeKalb County

Black people and other non-white people are registered to vote at a much lower rate than are white people in DeKalb County. The table below, current as of March 1, 1980, illustrates the disparity.

POPULATION VOTING AGE POPULATION REGISTERED VOTERS PERCENT REGISTERED
white male 154,872 105,440 85,334 81%
white female 166,422 119,334 97,095 81%
non-white male 85,126 49,213 10,458 21%
non-white female 93,780 58,761 15,977 27%
500,200 332,748 208,864 63%

Affidavit of Theodore Marcus, page 3, ¶¶ 10, 11. Thus, better than four out of five white adults in DeKalb County are registered to vote; fewer than one in four non-white adults in DeKalb County are registered to vote. In different terms, while non-white adults comprise over 32% of the adult population of the county, non-white electors make up less than 13% of the county’s total number of electors. Thus there exists in DeKalb County significant under-registration of non-whites.

There are fewer permanent “satellite” registration points (discussed below) in South DeKalb County, which is heavily nonwhite, than in any other part of the county.2 Georgia Senate District 43 is largely non-white. TR, pp. 78-79. The following table, taken from the list of satellite registration sites attached to the Affidavit of Harry E. Schmid, gives a breakdown of sites according to state Senate Districts.

Senate District # 43 # 5 # 41 # 42 # 55
No. of Satellite Registration Points 12 26 31 23 26

[671]*671C. Voter Registration Practice in DeKalb County

Until November 1,1964, the only location at which DeKalb County citizens could register was at the DeKalb County Courthouse in Decatur. TR, p. 82.

Beginning in 1965, members of the staff of the Registrar were deputized to register voters at locations other than the County Courthouse. TR, p. 82. Also in 1965 or 1966, the City Halls of Chamblee and Stone Mountain were established as permanent voter registration sites, called “satellite locations.” TR, p. 83.

Also in 1965, members of the staff of the DeKalb County Registrar’s Office were deputized to conduct voter registration at other locations for limited periods of time, especially during evening hours and on weekends. TR, p. 82.

In 1972, the practice referred to in the preceding paragraph was discontinued (at least partly to save money). In lieu of that practice, two other voter registration methods developed: first, permanent registration points or “satellites,” in banks, libraries, schools, city halls, etc.; and second, neighborhood voter registration drives conducted by community civic organizations. TR, pp. 83-85; Minutes, Aug. 16,1972, p. 1; Minutes, July 18, 1974.

Despite occasional indications by the Board that there were “enough” satellite voter registration points (see, e. g., Minutes, May 10, 1972, p. 1), the numbers of such satellite sites have slowly increased over the years. There are now over 130 such satellite stations. TR, p. 84.

Mr. Harry E. Schmid has been primarily responsible for the handling of applications from community organizations to conduct voter registration drives from 1972 to the present. His testimony makes up the bulk of the transcript of the evidentiary hearing.

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Bluebook (online)
494 F. Supp. 668, 1980 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 11845, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/naacp-dekalb-county-chapter-v-georgia-gand-1980.