The Evening Star (July 13, 1946)
Hundreds of Negroes purged from voting lists in Georgia
Challengers identified as backers of Talmadge, candidate for governor in primary Wednesday
ATLANTA (AP) – Hundreds of Negroes who have registered for the first time are being purged from the voting lists in Georgia a scant few days before the Democratic primary next Wednesday.
How many hundreds it is hard to say.
Georgia has more than 150 small rural counties. The situation varies from one county to another. An overall picture while the purge is under way is difficult.
Negro leaders estimate that 20,000 Negroes have been challenged. Any citizen can challenge a registrant. The Negro leaders charge a conspiracy, saying no white persons are being challenged.
The hearings before boards of registrars – which act as courts in these matters – are going on in many counties. In some counties few Negroes have been disqualified; in others, many challenged registrants have been written off the books.
About 120,000 Negroes are registered to vote in Georgia for the first time. This is by far the biggest prospective Negro vote any Southern state has been faced with this year. Yet it is only about a ninth of the total registration.
About a third of Georgia’s population is colored.
An attorney for voters in four South Georgia counties has filed a petition in federal court charging a statewide conspiracy to ban Negroes from voting in the primary, the equivalent of the election in Georgia.
He was granted a temporary order restraining the registrars from further disqualifying Negroes. A hearing for a permanent injunction is docketed for today.
The challengers are generally identified as supporters of Gene Talmadge, seeking a fourth term in the governor’s mansion on a platform of “white supremacy” and “restoration of the white primary.” He is opposed by James V. Carmichael, young wartime bomber plant manager, and former Gov. E. D. Rivers. Gov. Ellis Arnall is supporting Mr. Carmichael.
In Atlanta, a 76-year-old colored man who testified he would cut off his hand for his government if necessary, won the right to vote.
John Baskin, walking with a cane and speaking with difficulty, was one of many whose registration was challenged at hearings before the Fulton County registrar.
Answering questions, he said he did not know under what form of government the nation operates, but that he owned property and had always paid his taxes. Asked what his obligations were to his government, the aged man held up his hand and declared proudly: “To give that hand to them if they need it.”
Deputy Registrar Ellis McClelland overruled objections of an attorney representing the challenger, Horace H. Scoggins Jr. and held Mr. Baskin entitled to his ballot.