Those others were out there waiting. That is one of the methods. And I am sure you recognize that.

Senator ERVIN. About 5 more weeks, though, of registration.
Mr. McLEAN. What did you say?

Senator ERVIN. There were about 5 more weeks of registration.
Mr. McLEAN. There were about 5 more weeks?

Senator ERVIN. Yes, altogether.

Mr. MCLEAN. Yes, there were, but after the 5 weeks the applicants still had not passed her. I mean still had not an opportunity to present themselves because that was 50 that day.

But there were 50 more waiting the next day and the next day. And, of course, during that registration there were only 2 more registration days. That was the first one. And they only have 3 in the primary-that only gave them 2 more.

Senator ERVIN. They can register any day for the primary, from the day the books open to the day they close. Unless they have a terribly big precinct, they will get through pretty easy if they register 20 a day.

Mr. MCLEAN. Well, I was thinking that you were aware of the fact that the Negroes cannot register, because they cannot satisfy the registrar on the regular registration days.

And I am sure you are aware that the registrar is not required to register on other days. She may register if she or he desires to. Senator ERVIN. They are required to attend the polling places on Saturday. But they can be registered any other day.

Mr. MCLEAN. As I was about to say, I am sure that if you cannot satisfy the registrar on the regular days then it would be more difficult on the day she is or he is not required to register voters.

The other 4 or 5 days

Senator ERVIN. You yourself do not know how many of these people could read and write.

Mr. MCLEAN. Well, I don't know about them, but I have copies of their handwriting and heard their reading, and can present it to you. Senator ERVIN. Well, anyway, unfortunately, there are a great many people in North Carolina who cannot read or write.

Mr. MCLEAN. That is very unfortunate. But these are persons who can read or write. And, of course, I will show you evidence of some of their reading and writing. Their own exhibits, if need be and will be available to you, I am sure. It is all available to you. I have their names and addresses here.

I might say that that went on for the primary-the entire three Saturdays of the primary registration. During that time I think two people did register-it has been reported to me that they did.

And after getting this letter from Beall we presumed that he did as he said he did. But it had no effect apparently on Mrs. Vinson, because when the October registration began for the general election the results were about approximately the same.

One of the great handicaps was that Mrs. Vinson would tell them, if they tried, say, the first Saturday and failed, they would then be told not to come back any more that primary. They could not try again until November, until the following November election, the general election.

They could not try but once in any time that the books are open, any of those three Saturdays. Of course, the same thing held

Mr. MITCHELL. I would like to explain this. I had the benefit of hearing the questions that you raised.

We are very anxious to make certain that we give you factual information.

As I understand the significance of this letter, Mr. McLean directed to the proper official in the State of North Carolina information about how people were being denied the right to register.

Apparently this official said as of May 7 that he would undertake to correct it.

But Mr. McLean says that in October, even after the official stated he was going to correct it, the registrar was still doing the same thing complained about.

Senator ERVIN. Did you go back in October?
Mr. McLEAN. Yes, we did.

Senator ERVIN. My information from the State board of elections is that every time you made a complaint to it, the State board of elections took the matter up with the chairman of the county board of elections in the county where the precinct was, and that the chairman made a report to the State board, and the State board sent you a copy of the report.

Did you make any report to the Northampton County Board of Elections subsequent to the time that you received a copy of that report from the chairman of the Board of Elections of Northamtpon County? Mr. McLEAN. This chairman died, Mr. Beall. You probably did not know him. Mr. Beall died. We could make no report. Senator ERVIN. He had a successor.

Mr. MCLEAN. He had a successor, Mr. Johnson.

Senator ERVIN. That is the point I am making. Did you at any time after the receipt of that letter, the copy of Mr. Beall's letter, did you make any complaint to the State board of elections about Northampton County?

Mr. McLEAN. I think I did. I would have to look. I have many of those files here.

I do not have them all.

You are correct in that Mr. Maxwell did supply me with the copies of the correspondence.

I'd have to look at them to see if I did or did not. As best I can recall it now, I did not make a report on what Mr. Johnson did not do. As best as I can recall. There are about 20 counties in North Carolina that we are having complaints from and I do not remember what happened in each county.

I suppose that is as much time as we can spend on Northampton County. However, there is much more that could be said about other precincts in the county. I would like to submit for the record an item from the Greensboro, N. C., Daily News of February 26, 1957, regarding a suit filed by another resident of the county. (The article referred to is as follows:)

[Greensboro Daily News, February 26, 1957]

SUIT CHARGES VOTING RIGHTS WERE DENIED

RALEIGH, February 25.-A Negro woman who claims her voting rights were violated last May filed a suit in United States Eastern District Court today against a Northampton County registrar.

89777-57- -33

Louise Lassiter asked that a permanent injunction be issued restraining elections officials from using a so-called literacy test in determining voting qualifications at Seaboard precinct.

She charged also that both the North Carolina constitution and the North Carolina general statutes were unconstitutional in giving a registrar the right to judge a person's literacy.

DEFENDANT NAMED

The suit named Helen H. Taylor of Seaboard precinct as defendant. The alleged violation occurred last May 5, the plaintiff says.

According to the charges, the plaintiff and "25 or more other qualified" voters were denied registration on the voting books by the defendant.

A Northamption County resident for more than 37 years, the plaintiff said she was given "a purported literacy test." She was told to read a printed copy of the constitution of North Carolina. When she finished, she was informed that she could not register because she "mispronounced several words," the action stated.

The so-called literacy test is a treatment extended to "applicants of the plaintiff's race," the suit charges.

HITS STATUTES

It particularly hit North Carolina General Statutes 163-28, which says, "every person representing himself for registration should be able to read and write *** to the satisfaction of the registrar. ***"

It also is directed against article VI, section 4 of the North Carolina constitution.

The suit alleges that both the constitution and the statutes "conflict with the privileges or immunities clause of the 14th amendment" of the United States Constitution.

It further charges that the constitution and statutes conflict with the 15th and 17th amendments because the literacy test itself is arbitrary and "capricious." There is no appeal to a North Carolina governing body from a registrar's decision on the literacy of a voting applicant, it was pointed out in the action. The suit asked for speedy action and an injunction from a three-judge district court.

The story runs approximately the same thing. That is all I can say, there appears to be a conspiracy that the Negroes just will not be permitted to register there.

Now we will talk about Greene County, if I may, sir.

Greene County, of course, as you know, is not one heavily

Senator ERVIN. Do you have any records showing any Negroes denied the right to register in Northampton other than the precincts where Mrs. Vinson was?

Mr. McLEAN. Do I have any?

Senator ERVIN. Yes.

Mr. MCLEAN. I just mentioned one up at another precinct. I will get back to the letter. Pleasant Hill precinct.

Senator ERVIN. How many?

Mr. McLEAN. I don't know how many were there that Saturday. There were quite a few of them there. Of course the registrar was not registering anybody. We went to Mr. Maxwell.

A delegation from the county went, accompanying me to Mr. Maxwell and some of the delegates were from that precinct.

We went down one Saturday, probably you will remember, a delegation representing several precincts in that, I think there were five of them, to talk to Mr. Maxwell about the situation.

I believe that-well, that was it.

Senator ERVIN. When did Beall die, do you recall?

Mr. McLEAN. I do not recall when Mr. Beall died but he died sometime after the primary. Mr. Johnson was appointed in his place.

I knew Mr. Beall personally. This is just 1956 what I am talking about now.

This has been going on with me since 1952. Mr. Beall, of course, did try to do some things-I believe he did-but Mr. Beall had about the same success as Mr. Maxwell would have-people just don't go back.

Senator ERVIN. You quit complaining though that year after the primary?

Mr. McLEAN. What did you say?

Senator ERVIN. You made no complaint about Northampton County after the primary, so far as you can remember?

Mr. MCLEAN. At this time-yes, but that isn't true after the primary in 1952. We complained. In the general election in 1953 also. Mr. MITCHELL. There is another point in that connection. There is a list of persons whose affidavits have been submitted to the United States Department of Justice, and among those people are some from Northampton County.

So what Mr. McLean has indicated is that when he failed to get satisfaction through the State machinery, these complaints were then submitted to the Federal Government for redress.

Mr. MCLEAN. Here is another. I speak about this because it is a little different. In West Roanoke Township, Mrs. Spivey-that is the registrar-she required approximately 2 hours each. That does not mean she registers them after she requires that, but she requires that to examine them.

And, of course, they may or may not pass.

This is told to me. I did not hear this. She advised them to tell others she told one of the persons, David Moses, to tell others how hard it was to register under her.

Greene County is another one of the counties we have had a lot of difficulty with. In one township precinct we spent the most time in trying to get something done. There are some precincts in Greene County that are not as bad, by far.

Mr. Alton Newborn-and he is the registrar in the Bullhead precinct-Mr. Newborn has a series of questions that he asks everybody, gives them an examination. Among the questions listed here are up to 22, I believe. Some of them are, of course, the normal questionswhat party affiliated with-what is your occupation-name of the county agent-name of county official for the register of deeds. That is for the register of deeds in the primary.

Then he wants them to name the candidates for other various offices-board of education, county commissioners-these are listedcounty treasurer, county justice of the peace.

One of the questions he asked, what candidate from Lindale—that is a county down there or a precinct-what district is Lindale in? What congressional district do you live in? And name the county, the district in which this county is in. That was Greene County, of

course.

If the NAACP attacks the Government"-another one was"Would you support the Government or the NAACP?" And sometimes the other question that has been asked is this, "If NAACP attacked the Government on which side would you be on?"

And here is another question-here is a novel question: "When is the primary election and when is the general election?"

He gives an examination. This is a copy of some of the questions that he asks.

That county has been under investigation. Of course, we have not been able to get the type of response that I think any of us would be proud of.

And the next one would be

Senator ERVIN. Anyway, you reported that action of the registrar in Bullhead Township in Greene County to the State board of elec tions, and the State board reported it to the chairman of the county board of elections. And the chairman of the Greene County Board of Elections made a report of his investigation there, aand a copy of that report was sent to you.

And thereafter you made no complaint further about that county. Mr. MCLEAN. Oh, yes. We complained about Greene County. We have complained about Greene County, because they have been-that has been very bad.

Senator ERVIN. When did you make your other complaint about Greene County?

Mr. McLEAN. I talked with Mr. Maxwell about it. I went up to see him, during the registration for the general election.

Mr. MITCHELL. That also is among the complaints submitted to the Department of Justice, the one on Greene County.

Senator ERVIN. That was testified about.

Mr. MITCHELL. The complainant is Thomas Yelverton.
Senator ERVIN. Proceed.

Mr. MCLEAN. The next is Currituck County. I was in the first day of registration for the primary. I went into the courthouse, the registration was going on in one of the rooms of the courthouse.

There were 2 or 3 colored persons there who presented themselves for registration. And the registrar said to them after, that they misspelled some words; they did not satisfy her.

The record shows that I made myself known to the registrar at that time. And, of course, said who I was.

That was after they had been turned down. The applicants were not there. I mean the persons that were turned down were not in the room at the time as best I remember it.

The next day, probably late that afternoon, others did go in. And, of course, I am not sure if any registered at Currituck or not. I mean in Currituck County. This was Currituck County courthouse precinct, I presume. That was the registration place.

The registrar there is Mrs. McMillan. One person who presented himself was Riley Lee Mackey. I have here a sample of his handwriting.

Mackey is a college graduate. He was among those that were denied the right to register. He graduated from State teachers college. Seantor ERVIN. Did you see Mackey write this?

Mr. McLEAN. Yes. I saw Riley Lee Mackey write that. He wrote that along with another writing.

Senator ERVIN. The reason I ask is that it is surprising because it looks like a woman's handwriting. I presume Riley Lee Mackey is a man by his name.

Mr. MCLEAN. Yes; he is a man-a good-sized man, too. He is pretty good sized.