The Impact of the Negro Vote on Alabama Elections Since the Voting Rights Act of 1965 Page: 35

                                
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availability of officials to register them. One example of
the effect of federal examiners is Jefferson County, Ala-
bama. In this county, 25,9^4 Negroes were registered before
the passage of the Voting Rights Act in August of 19&5 
From August until the end of January, local registrars regis-
tered 17,917 Negroes, and on January 20, 1966, federal exa-
miners were sent in to Jefferson Countyj by February 21—
a month later—they had added 14,04-7 Negroes to the voter
rolls. In one month, federal examiners included as many
Negroes on the registration lists"as local registrars had
added in seven months.It is quite obvious that local
registrars had dragged their feet. Nor was this the only
problem—all over the black belt there were complaints about
discrimination due to registration. In some places, there
was violence; in others, black sharecroppers were quietly
evicted after they registered to vote. In other areas,
blacks were still given a difficult time when they tried to
register? in some counties, the registration went smoothly,
but the local officials listed the Negro applicants as mem-
bers of crank parties, which prevented them from voting in
the next Democratic-primary and necessitated complicated
party-changing applications.^ In toto, though, the Voting
36 over Three Million Negroes on Voting Lists in South,"
V.E.P. News (Atlanta), September, 1968, Sec. A., p. 1.
■^Dyer, op. cit., p. 19