Opinion ID: 386196
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Overview of Plaintiffs' Claim

Text: 2 These class actions were filed simultaneously on March 18, 1977, by black voters of Pensacola and Escambia County. The plaintiffs alleged that the at-large systems for electing members of the area's three major governing bodies are unconstitutional as violative of their rights under the First, Thirteenth, Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments and are in violation of the Civil Rights Act of 1957, 42 U.S.C. § 1971(a)(1), the Voting Rights Act of 1965, as amended in 1975, 42 U.S.C. § 1973, and the Civil Rights Act of 1871, 42 U.S.C. § 1983. 3 The essence of the plaintiffs' complaints is that the at-large systems operate to preclude the black population, which comprises one-third of the city population 2 and one-fifth of the county population, 3 from electing a member of its own race to any of the three governing bodies. 4 The Board of County Commissioners is composed of five members who serve staggered four-year terms. Although they must run for numbered places corresponding to the districts in which they live, they are elected at-large by the voters of the entire county. Each major party is required to hold a primary in which only party members may vote. Candidates run at-large for numbered places in the primaries, and a majority vote is required for the party nomination. There is no majority vote requirement in the general election. 5 The School Board of Escambia County is composed of seven members who serve staggered four-year terms. Five of the members must reside in residential districts but two may reside anywhere in the county. 4 Otherwise, the election process for the School Board is the same as that for the County Commission. 6 The Pensacola City Council has ten members. Candidates must run for numbered places corresponding to the five wards, and must live in the corresponding ward. The election, however, is at-large. There are no primaries, but there is a majority vote requirement. 7 Since 1955, blacks have been candidates for the County Commission four times, for the School Board five times and for the City Council nineteen times. As of the date of trial, no black had ever been elected to either the County Commission or the School Board, 5 and only two blacks had been elected to the City Council. The two black City Council members had initially been appointed to the Council to fill vacant seats and were then successful in their bids for re-election. 8 The plaintiffs argue that because of racially polarized voting, 6 and because of the at-large system of elections, the votes of blacks in Pensacola and Escambia County are being diluted. In essence, their argument is that although blacks comprise a significant minority of the area, they will never be able to elect members of their race to the governing bodies, and hence, their votes are worth less than those of their white counterparts. This claim has been presented to this court previously; see, e. g., Cross v. Baxter, 604 F.2d 875 (5th Cir. 1979); Nevett v. Sides, 571 F.2d 209 (5th Cir. 1978); Blacks United for Lasting Leadership v. Shreveport, 571 F.2d 248 (5th Cir. 1978); NAACP v. Thomas County, Georgia, 571 F.2d 257 (5th Cir. 1978); Zimmer v. McKeithen, 485 F.2d 1297 (5th Cir. 1973) (en banc), aff'd sub nom. East Carroll Parish School Board v. Marshall, 424 U.S. 636, 96 S.Ct. 1083, 47 L.Ed.2d 296 (1976), and, more recently, to the Supreme Court in City of Mobile v. Bolden, 446 U.S. 55, 100 S.Ct. 1490, 64 L.Ed.2d 47 (1980). 9 It should be noted that there is no allegation of any actual impediment to blacks voting, such as a poll tax or racially motivated gerrymandering of municipal boundaries. Gomillion v. Lightfoot, 364 U.S. 339, 81 S.Ct. 125, 5 L.Ed.2d 110 (1960). 7 Rather, the issue here is limited to a claim of vote dilution.