Perkins v. CITY OF WEST HELENA, ARK., H C 78 44.
| Decision Date | 10 April 1981 |
| Docket Number | No. H C 78 44.,H C 78 44. |
| Parties | Reverend P. L. PERKINS, Phillips County Concerned Citizens, Sam Bennett, John Hamilton, Mrs. Lillie Mae Stevenson, Wilson Rodgers, Reverend Julius McGruder, Welton Davis, Reverend C. W. Gilcreast and Orta Bush, Plaintiffs, v. CITY OF WEST HELENA, ARKANSAS, Mayor Jesse Porter, City Councilmen, Bob Teeter, Dick Cunningham, Tommie Dial, Charles Miles and Dwight Galloway, Defendants. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Eastern District of Arkansas |
P. A. Hollingsworth, Perlesta A. Hollingsworth, P. A., Little Rock, Ark., for plaintiffs.
Ralph C. Murray, City Atty., West Helena, Ark., for defendants.
This is a class action suit pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983 in which the plaintiffs1 seek to represent all black registered voters of the City of West Helena. It is contended that the city's election procedure which requires election of city council members on an "at large" basis violates the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendment rights of the class. In addition to a declaration that the current election procedure is unconstitutional, plaintiffs ask that the Court compel the implementation of elections by single member districts to insure constitutionally fair representation in city government.
Plaintiffs amended their complaint to further allege that the City of West Helena engaged in a practice of denying blacks an opportunity to fully exercise their right to vote in violation of Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, 42 U.S.C. § 1973. Additionally, plaintiffs contend that the population in the four city wards is not "substantially equal" as required by Ark.Stat.Ann. § 19-1002.7 and alleged the Court has pendent jurisdiction to direct the correction of the inequality.
The State of Arkansas intervened for the purpose of defending the facial constitutionality of Ark.Stat.Ann. § 19-1002 et seq., the statutes which authorize the election procedure employed by the City of West Helena.
The Court has jurisdiction of the case by reason of 28 U.S.C. § 2201 and 28 U.S.C. § 1343(3).
The parties entered into the following pre-trial stipulation which is incorporated as part of these findings and conclusions:
1. The City of West Helena, Arkansas, is classified as a city of the first class under the laws of the State of Arkansas.
2. The City of West Helena, Arkansas, was incorporated on May 23, 1917.
3. The City of West Helena, Arkansas, became a city of the first class on January 15, 1920.
4. The City of West Helena, Arkansas, was divided into four (4) wards with the boundary lines separating the four (4) wards remaining the same since becoming a city of the first class in 1920.
5. The present at-large method of electing aldermen for the City of West Helena, Arkansas, has been the same since the City of West Helena, Arkansas, became a city of the first class in 1920.
6. The method of electing aldermen for the City of West Helena, Arkansas, is one of the methods permitted by Ark.Stat.Ann. §§ 19-1002.5 and 19-1002.7. (Repl.1980). This statute provides for a total of eight (8) aldermen with two (2) being elected from each ward.
7. That pursuant to Ark.Stat.Ann. § 19-1002.7 (Repl.1980), candidates for the office of alderman shall reside in the ward from which they seek to be elected and, under the chosen method, shall run at large.
8. That at the time of filing this cause of action there were eight (8) elected aldermen in the City of West Helena, Arkansas, with six (6) of those so elected being white and two (2) of those so elected being black. These were:
9. That at this time there are eight (8) aldermen in the City of West Helena, Arkansas, and that those eight (8) are as follows:
10. That the mayor in and for the City of West Helena, Arkansas, at this time is R. E. "Bob" Teeter.
11. That voter registration records do not reflect race.
12. All registered voters residing in West Helena, Arkansas, can vote for the candidate of their choice from those so electing to be a candidate for a municipal office.
13. At the time of the filing of this cause of action, P. L. Perkins, Sam Bennett, John Hamilton, Julius McGruder and Welton Davis were not residents of the City of West Helena, Arkansas.
14. That at the time of the filing of this cause of action, there was in effect in the State of Arkansas Ark.Stat.Ann. § 19-1002.5 (Repl.1980), which provides:
15. That at the time of the filing of this cause of action, there was in effect in the State of Arkansas Ark.Stat.Ann. § 19-1002.7 (Repl.1980), which provides:
16. Plaintiffs, Lillie Mae Stevenson, Wilson Rodgers, and Orta Bush, are black citizens of the United States, residents of Phillips County.
17. Since the city was incorporated, there have only been three black city councilmen.
18. In 1978, three black candidates ran for city council, no black candidate was successful.
19. The 1970 census estimates that the total population of West Helena is 11,005. Of this total 59.6% (6,564) are white and 40.4% (4,441) are black.
20. In the State of Arkansas Negroes were first allowed to vote by Article 1 § 3 of the Constitution of 1868.
21. That a poll tax was assessed as a requirement for voting in Arkansas until 1965, and was repealed by Amendment 51 § 17 of the Arkansas Constitution.
22. In 1970 the first private non-parochial school in the City of West Helena was formed.
23. The State of Arkansas has no legislative policy which prefers at-large elections.
Arkansas and the City of West Helena, by implementation of Arkansas election laws, have a long history of racial discrimination in the election process.2
The passage of the Voting Rights Act in 1965 and the abolition of the poll tax that same year removed the last of the legal impediments to blacks voting in Arkansas.
The City of West Helena is divided into 4 wards. The eastern boundary of the city borders the corporate limits of the City of Helena. The principal portion of West Helena's growth has necessarily been to the west with lesser growth to the north and south. The city's existing ward lines were drawn when the current system of municipal government was adopted in 1920. They have never been changed. Because residential housing is essentially segregated, the voters in Wards 2 and 3, which are the two easternmost wards, are almost all white voters. The portions of Wards 1 and 4 (1A, 4A, 4A3 and 4C) which are contiguous to Wards 2 and 3 are predominantly white. Wards 1B and 4B are an identifiable black residential area separated from the other wards by a railroad siding track and the voters are almost exclusively black.
Since the ward lines have not changed since 1920 and the growth has been to the west, a significant disparity has developed in the population in each ward. The 1970 census comparative population figures are shown in the following chart:3
Ward Population % of Total
1 3,765 35%
2 1,011 9%
3 2,103 18%
4 4,214 38%
Although by national standards neither the white nor black residents of West Helena fare well with respect to years of education, employment, income and housing, there exists a significant disparity between blacks and whites. On average, the whites have significantly more years of formal education, less unemployment, more income and better housing.4
Between 1966 and 1978, blacks have been candidates for city alderman on 12 occasions. Any registered voter may become a candidate for alderman by getting 10 signatures on a petition. (Testimony of Lillie Mae Stevenson.) DeWitt Jordan, a black, ran in 1968, 1970 and 1972. He was apparently elected on one occasion, but the evidence is not clear when he was elected or if he was defeated for re-election. In 1976, 2 blacks were elected to the City Council. In each instance when a black was elected, he ran against two whites and was elected by a plurality of the vote....
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Perkins v. City of West Helena, Ark., 81-1516
...HEANEY, Circuit Judge. Plaintiffs appeal from a decision of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas, 514 F.Supp. 770, which held that the at-large system of electing aldermen in the City of West Helena, Arkansas, was neither adopted or maintained for the purpos......