United States v. Post, Civ. A. No. 13571

• Decision Date: 10 March 1969
• Docket Number: 13574.,Civ. A. No. 13571
• Citation: 297 F. Supp. 46
• Parties: UNITED STATES of America v. Jerome K. POST, Jr., Clerk of the Sixth Judicial District Court of Louisiana, etc., et al. Zelma C. WYCHE et al. v. Jerome K. POST, Jr., Clerk of the Sixth Judicial District Court of Louisiana, etc., et al.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Western District of Louisiana

297 F. Supp. 46

UNITED STATES of America v. Jerome K. POST, Jr., Clerk of the Sixth Judicial District Court of Louisiana, etc., et al.

Zelma C. WYCHE et al. v. Jerome K. POST, Jr., Clerk of the Sixth Judicial District Court of Louisiana, etc., et al.

Civ. A. Nos. 13571, 13574.

United States District Court W. D. Louisiana, Monroe Division.

March 10, 1969.

Ramsey Clark, Atty. Gen., Stephen J. Pollak, Asst. Atty. Gen., Frank M. Dunbaugh, Atty., Civil Rights Division, Dept. of Justice, Washington, D. C., Edward L. Shaheen, U. S. Atty., Charles E. Welsh, Asst. U. S. Atty., Shreveport, La., for the Government.

Donald Juneau, New Orleans, La., Richard B. Sobol, Robert F. Collins and Nils R. Douglas, New Orleans, La., for plaintiffs Zelma C. Wyche and others.

Jack P. F. Gremillion, Atty. Gen., of Louisiana, Thomas McFerrin, Asst. Atty. Gen., Baton Rouge, La., Robert C. Downing, Asst. Atty. Gen., Monroe, La., Thompson L. Clarke, Dist. Atty., for the

Sixth Judicial District, St. Joseph, La., for all defendants.

FINDINGS OF FACT AND CONCLUSIONS OF LAW

DAWKINS, Chief Judge.

Findings of Fact

1. These consolidated actions were filed respectively February 23rd, 1968, and February 26th, 1968, under Sections 2, 11(a), and 12(b), of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, and 42 U.S.C. § 1971(a) and (c). The complaints charged defendants with having engaged in certain conduct which had the effect of depriving qualified Negro voters of their right effectively to cast their vote in a February 6, 1968, election for the office of Village Marshal of Tallulah, Louisiana.

2. Defendant Jerome K. Post, Jr., is Clerk of the Court for the Sixth Judicial District of Louisiana. Under Louisiana law, he is ex-officio Parish custodian of voting machines and is responsible for providing instructions to election commissioners in the operation of voting machines and as to their duties in connection therewith.

3. The defendant Board of Supervisors of Elections of Madison Parish is composed of the Madison Parish Registrar of Voters and two other persons appointed by the Governor. The duties of the Board include the giving of notice of every general election, and providing for commissioners and clerks to preside over the election at each polling precinct, and general supervision of elections. Defendant Jack H. Folk is president of the Board of Supervisors. Defendants Myrtis Bishop and J. W. Huckabay are members of the Board of Supervisors.

4. Defendant Wade O. Martin, Jr., is the Secretary of State of the State of Louisiana. As such, he is responsible for the preparation and distribution of the official ballots and sample ballots used in elections in the State of Louisiana, and for preparation of full voting instructions to voters.

5. Defendant Douglas Fowler is the State Custodian of Voting Machines of the State of Louisiana. As such, he is responsible for the preparation of all voting machines used in elections in the State of Louisiana, and the delivery of the machines and other election supplies to the custody of the Parish custodians in complete readiness for use at the polls.

6. Defendant F. M. "Peck" Magee is the Madison Parish Voting Machine mechanic. As agent and employee of defendant Douglas Fowler, he is responsible for preparing and insuring that necessary voting machines in Madison Parish are in complete readiness for use at the polls in elections.

7. August 12, 1966, pursuant to Section 6 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, the Attorney General certified that the appointment of federal examiners in Madison Parish was necessary to enforce the guarantees of the Fifteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States.

8. November 4, 1967, a primary election for Democratic party candidates for State and local offices was held in Madison Parish. A special municipal primary election for Democratic nominee for the office of Village Marshal of Tallulah, Louisiana, was joined with this regular Democratic primary. The general election for all of these offices was scheduled for February 6, 1968. Because the municipal boundaries of Tallulah, Louisiana, do not coincide with the boundaries of Ward 4 of Madison Parish, within which Tallulah is located, in certain of the Ward 4 precincts there were voters who did not reside within the municipal boundaries of Tallulah and, therefore, were ineligible to vote in the special municipal election.

9. In the special primary election, referred to in Paragraph 8 above, Zelma C. Wyche, a Negro resident of Tallulah, Louisiana, was declared the Democratic nominee for the office of Village Marshal. The final voting results for this special primary election were 1907 votes for Zelma C. Wyche and a combined total of 1883 votes for the two white candidates who had sought the nomination.

10. Clayton W. Cox, a white resident of Tallulah, Louisiana, was named as the Republican nominee to oppose Zelma Wyche for the office of Village Marshal in the February 6, 1968, general election.

11. As of January 6, 1968, there were approximately 2,671 Negroes and 2,111 white persons registered to vote in the Village of Tallulah, Louisiana.

12. Sometime prior to January 19, 1968, the defendant Martin caused to have printed and distributed an official sample ballot for use in Ward 4 of Madison Parish, Louisiana, at the general elections scheduled for February 6, 1968. This sample ballot had printed on its face instructions to the effect that the turning of a party lever would cause votes to be cast as a unit for every nominee of the party who appeared on the ballot. These instructions did not preclude party nominees involved in the special general election for Village Marshal.

13. On or about January 19, 1968, at the courthouse office in Tallulah, Louisiana, Zelma C. Wyche, the Democratic nominee for Village Marshal, requested and was permitted to inspect a sample ballot for use in Ward 4 of Madison Parish during the general elections scheduled for February 6, 1968, which had been distributed to defendant Post as Clerk of Court and ex-officio Parish Custodian of Voting Machines, by defendant Martin, as Secretary of State. Printed on the face of this sample ballot were the same instructions concerning the party lever referred to in Paragraph 12 above.

14. On or about January 23, 1968, in response to a previous request, Zelma C. Wyche, the Democratic nominee for Village Marshal, received from defendant Martin three sample ballots, for use in Ward 4 of Madison Parish during the general elections scheduled for February 6, 1968, on the face of which were printed the same instructions to voters concerning the party lever referred to in Paragraphs 12 and 13 above.

15. Acting upon the information supplied to him that pulling the master Democratic lever would register a vote for all Democratic nominees, from about January 23, 1968, to February 6, 1968, Wyche geared his entire campaign strategy to inducing the voters to pull the master Democratic lever. This campaign was primarily directed toward the Negro electorate.

16. Sometime prior to January 24, 1968, defendant Magee received from the Office of the State Custodian of Voting Machines a worksheet which described the manner in which the voting machines were to be set up for the February 6, 1968, general election in Ward 4 of Madison Parish. In effect, the worksheet was a diagram of the official machine ballot.

17. Sometime prior to January 24, 1968, defendant Magee received from the Louisiana Secretary of State's office the official machine ballots that were to be inserted on the face of the voting machines for the February 6, 1968, general election in Ward 4 of Madison Parish.

18. In preparing the machines to be used at the February 6, 1968, general election in Ward 4 of Madison Parish, defendant Magee became aware that because of the limitations of the voting machines, it would not be mechanically possible to attach the individual levers of the nominees for Village Marshal to the Democratic and Republican party levers and at the same time provide mechanically on the same machine for excluding the election for Village Marshal from those voters residing outside the municipal boundaries of Tallulah, Louisiana, but within Ward 4 of Madison Parish and who were, therefore, not eligible to vote in that election.

19. To resolve the above mentioned problem, defendant Magee set up the machines to be used in the February 6, 1968, election in Ward 4 of Madison Parish, in such a manner as to preclude the straight party ticket lever from affecting the special election for Village Marshal of Tallulah, Louisiana. Thus, while Democratic nominee Wyche's name was immediately beside all the other Democratic party nominees for whom votes could be cast simply by pulling the master party lever, pulling that master lever would not register a vote for Wyche. A vote for Wyche could only be registered by pulling the individual lever over Wyche's name.

20. Defendant Magee further inserted on the machines the initial ballots received from the Secretary of State, together with instructions to voters, which illustrated that the pulling of the party lever would cause votes to be cast as a unit for every nominee of the party who appeared on the ballot.

21. None of the above mentioned actions by defendant Magee were taken for the purpose of influencing the outcome of the election. Rather, he sincerely believed that the voters would realize that since the Village Marshal election was a special election it would not be controlled by the master party levers.

22. Defendant Magee delivered a machine prepared in the manner described above to the Parish custodian of voting machines for use as a demonstration machine at the school for election commissioners.

23. On January 24, 1968, defendant Post conducted a school for the election commissioners who were to serve at the February 6, 1968, general election in Madison Parish. At the school, the commissioners were instructed in the operation of the...