PREPARED STATEMENT OF DR. CHARLES L. COTRELL, PROFESSOR, POLITICAL SCIENCE, ST. MARY'S UNIVERSITY, SAN ANTONIO, TEX.

I wish to express my appreciation to the Committee members for the opportunity to speak before you. My name is Charles L. Cotrell. I am an Associate Professor of Government at St. Mary's University in San Antonio, Texas. I am a native South Texan and a native San Antonian. After earning my doctoral degree from the University of Arizona in Tucson, I have taught at Texas A & I University in South Texas. And, for the past ten years, I have taught at St. Mary's University in San Antonio.

During the past three years, I have conducted research on the effects of election systems on voters participation in the Southwest and in Texas. As a result

of this research, I have given testimony in the federal court decision styled White v. Regester (412 U.S. 755, 1973), a case which concerns the impact of atlarge elections on Mexican American and Black voting rights. In addition, I have analyzed and given federal court testimony concerning the effects of election systems on voter participation in a number of other counties, cities and school districts in Texas. Finally, I have concluded a preliminary study dealing with intimidation and fear as barriers to the exercise of full voting rights for Mexican American and Black voters in Texas.

The central conclusion to which my studies have led me is this: Mexican American and Black voters in Texas continue-today-to face a series of very subtle (and occasionally not so subtle) barriers in the attempt to exercise their Constitutionally guaranteed right to vote. In this regard, there are vast areas and large numbers of minority peoples in Texas who face the same challenges in voting as do Mexican Americans and Blacks in so-called covered jurisdictions of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 as amended. It is my position that patterns of voting rights violations against Mexican Americans and Blacks in Texas are identical to those occurring in states and areas currently thought of as covered jurisdictions under the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

The era of physical violence-lynchings, fire bombings and shootings—is giving way to more subtle forms of discouragement and exclusion. The fear of losing one's job as a result of political activity is replacing the gunshot in the back; the chilling effect on the political participation of minority peoples caused by local official harassment is replacing dogs and state troopers; election systems— like the at-large structure-which entangle minority voter aspiration and impact in a vicious Catch-22, replace bluntly exclusionary devices like the white primary and the filing fee of a day gone by.

And, finally, the debilitating and frustrating effect of perpetual changes by the establishment in the political rules of the game continues to discourage and to hamper the voting turnout of minority communities throughout the vast state of Texas. Intimidation-resulting in fear and voter exclusion-and subtle barriers, often missed by the casual observer, are the new instruments of voting rights deprivations in Texas today.

My conclusions concerning the role of intimidation, economic reprisals and fear in the political participation of Spanish-speaking and Black Americans in Texas is substantiated throughout the South:

Examination of the political participation of the minorities reveals the effects of this history. Although physical violence appears no longer to be commonly used to prevent Blacks in the South from registering and voting, such episodes still occur. More common are economic reprisals against minority political activity. Fear of both violence and economic reprisals remains, especially in the rural South and among the old members of the Black population. The events of 5, 10 or 20 years ago and the experience of generations are not easily forgotten or discounted. An isolated recurrence of violence or economic reprisal can nullify years of progress.

Underlying many of the abuses reported here is the economic dependence of these minorities.1

Although statements about the size and regional variety of Texas are looked upon skeptically when made by a native, one must appreciate that Texas is 201,000 square miles larger than the six New England states. In population, Texas' 11.4 million people constitute only 500,000 less than the entire population of New England. Indeed, counties such as Bexar (San Antonio) (830,460), El Paso (359,291), Tarrant (Fort Worth) (716,317), and Dallas (1,327,321) contrast favorably or exceed the populations of Rhode Island, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine. Mexican Americans constitute 18% of this 11.4 million, while Blacks compose 12.5%. These percentages of minority populations in Texas amount to sizable numbers of people-2.1 million Mexican Americans and 1.3 million Blacks. South and East Texas are two of the regions wherein patterns of voting rights violations are widespread and frequent. The twenty-six counties of South Texas constitute an agricultural and ranching empire. The agricultural economy of this region spawns a small group of large landowners, with the bulk of the population in low salaried, financially dependent agri-business occupations. Twenty-six (26) counties of the South Texas region contain over 50%

1 U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, The Voting Rights Act: Ten Years After (U.S. Government Printing Office: Washington, D.C. 1975), 173. See also Lester Salamon and S. Van Evera, "Fear, Apathy, and Discrimination: A Test of Three Explanations of Political Participation," American Political Science Review, vol. 67 (1973) for a study of the effects of intimidation and fear on rural Black voter participation.

Mexican American population; the overwhelming concentration of the 2.1 million Mexican Americans live in South Texas. The social, economic and political conditions of Mexican Americans in many of the twenty-six counties of the South Texas region are very similar to the subordinated position of rural Southern Blacks living in the so-called covered jurisdictions of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Most importantly, the county by county, community by community pattern (s) of harassment, intimidation and other forms of exclusion used against Mexican American voters by local establishments are in many instances identical to those reported in the so-called covered jurisdictions of the South and the Southwest.

The region of East Texas-approximately forty counties with Black population concentrations ranging from 10% to 40%-is characterized by the same social and political conditions which exist in rural Mississippi, Georgia and Alabama. Black citizens in small, isolated East Texas communities are consistently thwarted by local officials in efforts to exercise their right to vote. Changes in the election system when Black voters demonstrate strength at the polls is a common practice. Racially inspired gerrymandering, adoption of the at-large election structure for the purpose of diluting Black voting strength and adoption of the majority run-off, numbered place system have been challenged recently in a flood of federal court litigation in this region (see below for details). Had these changes in the rules of the political game been submitted to the Justice Department under Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act, almost certainly the thin veil of discriminatory intent would have been pierced and these rules changes would have been denied.

A STORY OF FOUR COUNTIES

What I propose to do in the remainder of my testimony is to speak about voting rights abridgments in the context of specific situations-all of recent vintagewithin the South and East Texas regions. This is not to suggest that there are not significant concentrations of Mexican Americans and Blacks in other regions in Texas-especially West Texas. However, I have chosen these two regions because racial discrimination seems to follow density of minority population: As the Mexican American or Black voter appears to threaten potentially local power structures, a wide variety of legal devices are employed to intimidate, exclude and otherwise deny voting rights to minority voters.

Nacogdoches County—a story of changing the rules

The city of Nacogdoches with 22,544 population (15% Black) is nestled in the Piney Woods of East Texas, isolated from the distractions and rhythms of any major urban area. No Black person has ever won a county-wide or city election in the history of Nacogdoches. The city charter provided for a five-member commission form of government. The city charter had not been amended since 1929. City elections were at-large (all city commissioners were elected by a city-wide electorate), with electoral victory awarded to the candidate with a plurality of the votes.

In the spring, 1972, a Black student from Stephen F. Austin College in Nacogdoches ran for a commissioner post; he almost won a plurality of the votes in an election which registered the highest turnout in the history of Nacogdoches city elections.' What happened next demonstrates the intended diluting effect of minority votes by a change in the rules.

In June, 1972, the all-white city commission proposed the first amendment to the city charter in forty-three years: The adoption of the majority run-off, numbered place system for city elections. The proposal was adopted by Nacogdoches voters. In the April, 1973 election, another Black candidate ran for city commissioner only to win a plurality of the votes but to lose in a majority run-off election. The tell-tale act in this drama of exclusion was a proposal-during this same period of time (summer, 1972)-by the five city commissioners to change city elections from April to mid-July in order to avoid the impact of student votes in city elections. These changes in the rules were challenged by Black plaintiffs in federal district court. In January, 1975, Judge William Wayne Justice ordered

Exceptionally high voter turnouts are common in Texas elections when a minority candidate threatens to win a race. This is one indicator of racially polarized voting under the "umbrella" of at-large elections. See "The Effect (s) of At-Large Elections on the Political Access and Voting Strength of Mexican American and Black Voters in Texas" attached to this testimony.

single member districts for the city of Nacogdoches on grounds that the at-large majority run-off, numbered place system tended to abridge the voting rights of Black citizens."

The moral of the story, however, is this: If the proposed city charter changes had required clearance under Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act, in all probability the voting rights of Blacks in Nacogdoches would not have been denied yet another three years. Rules changes in Texas which would normally require Section 5 clearance are widespread in the recent emergence of minority attempts to exercise their right to vote. The following communities in Texas have adopted changes in the face of growing minority voting strength: Corpus Christi, Lufkin, Waco, in addition to a number of local school districts throughout the state. Bexar County-a story of the at-large structure and its meaning for Texas Bexar County (San Antonio) is the nominal northern capital of the entire South Texas region. Of the County's 830,000 persons, 60% are minority. Mexican Americans account for approximately 52% of the minority percentage, while Blacks constitute 8%. Under the auspices of at-large elections, the size of San Antonio (approximately 740,000) and Bexar County were/are one of the largest legislative and city council districts in the United States.

In January, 1972, a three judge federal court ruled that the use of multimember (at-large) districts for the election of state legislators in Bexar and Dallas counties unconstitutionally diluted and otherwise cancelled the voting strength of Mexican Americans and Blacks in those counties. This decision was affirmed by the United States Supreme Court in White v. Regester, 412 U.S. 755 (1973). A legal suit is pending against the City of San Antonio currently concerning the use of the at-large structure for the purpose of electing city council persons. Finally, oral arguments were heard before the United States Supreme Court last month concerning the effect of at-large elections for state legislators in seven populous Texas counties-El Paso, Travis (Austin), Neuces (Corpus Christi), Jefferson (Beaumont and Port Arthur), McLennan (Waco), Lubbock, and Tarrant (Fort Worth). A three judge lower court had ruled the use of the at-large scheme to be unconstitutional in January, 1974. These counties have a total population of approximately 2.3 million people. The number of Texas House of Representative seats involved is 27-nearly one-fifth of the entire body. If the original suit including Bexar and Dallas counties is added, the total population in the litigated areas swells to approximately 4.2 million people and the number of legislative seats grows to 56-much over one-third of the entire Texas House. The Mexican American and Black population in the contested areas ranges from 20% to 60%. Sizable percentages of the state's minority population, then, lived or live under an electoral dilution scheme whose constitutionality is seriously questionable. These litigated counties and cities-with the exception of Harris County (Houston)—are the largest and most populous in Texas. The importance of exploring the effects of the at-large election structures on the voting rights of minority peoples is this: The at-large structure, with accompanying variations of the majority run-off, numbered place system-is used extensively among the forty largest cities in Texas.' And, under state statute, the countless school districts in Texas elect at-large, with an option (a rules change) to adopt the majority run-off, numbered place system. Under the provisions of Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act, all of these changes in electoral arrangements would have to meet preclearance through the Attorney General. Thus, much is at stake for literally millions of Texas Mexican American and Black voters in the electoral sleight-of-hand known as the at-large structure, majority run-off, numbered place system (or combinations of these devices). The diluting effect of at-large elections works in a context of social, historical and political-legal factors. In the social context-both urban and rural-we find high incidences of racial segregation in housing in Texas communities of all

3 Weaver v. Muckleroy, Civil No. 5524 (E.D. Texas, Tyler Division, January 1975). 4 See attached exhibit. "The Effect (s) of At-Large Elections on Political Access and Voting Strength of Mexican Americans and Blacks in Texas," Appendix II, for a complete listing of these cities with their variations of the at-large arrangement.

5 Texas Civil Statutes Annotated, Article 2775e-2 Section 1-2 and Texas Educational Code. Article 23.11 (h).

Institute For Research On Poverty. Indexes of Racial Segregation for 109 Cities in the United States, 1940-70, Studies in Racial Segregation, No. 1, University of Wisconsin at Madison, 1974.

sizes, de facto, if not de jure, segregation in school systems, and racially polarized attitudes within communities.'

The historical factors are these: Slavery and official and unofficial acts of discrimination in areas ranging from racially restricted housing to an extended series of legal hurdles blocking minority registration and voting (see the summary of testimony offered by Attorney George Korbel before this Committee for an accounting of these barriers). These factors leave a residue of racisma legacy of discrimination and exclusion-which continue to discourage minority participation in Texas.

The political-legal factors are constituted by the discriminatory manner in which local establishments revert to legal devices such as the majority run-off provision and the numbered place system to cancel minority voting rights. First, an explanation of the majority run-off provision.

The majority run-off structure is a familiar device at the legislative, city and school board level in the South, the Southwest and in Texas. This provision insures that essentially white voting majorities have a "second shot" at Mexican American and Black candidates who have failed to muster a majority of the votes in the first election. Time and again, in election after election, minority candidates win a plurality in the first election, only to lose the run-off in highly racially polarized voting."

The numbered place system can also act as a legal constraint on minority voters in Texas at-large elections. Candidates in at-large districts run for specific numbered places within the district. Each voter casts one vote for one candidate in each place. The place system thus has two effects: (1) it lends visibility to specific individuals in a large field of candidates and, (2) makes it possible for minority candidates to be "spotlighted" in specific matched races. If there is evidence of racially polarized voting in the community, Mexican American and Black candidates can be identified in what is many times a bewildering array of contenders. And, minority candidates can be "matched" with particularly strong opposing candidates. Of course, the prospect of "single shot voting"-voters of a particular group combining their voting strength by singling out a particular candidate running at-large-is effectively prevented.

Lest we forget, the dilution formula in at-large election structures has a devastating meaning for minority voters when Texas school boards and cities frequently change the rules of the political game. Table 1 demonstrates the dearth of minority representation in major Texas cities-all of which employed the atlarge election device through 1974 and all of which contain significant percentages of minority population.

TABLE 1.-MINORITY GROUP REPRESENTATION IN MAJOR TEXAS CITIES, 1960-74

For verified patterns of racial polarization of attitudes, see Frank L. Baird, "Survey of Anglo-American Population of Lubbock, Tex." (unpublished paper), (1973), and a survey taken under my direction entitled "Racial Attitudes and Project Turn-Key" (unpublished) (San Antonio, 1971). For evidence of racial polarization expressed through voting behavior, see Rudolph O. de la Garza, "Voting Patterns in 'Bi-Cultural El Paso': A Contextual Analysis of Mexican American Voting Behavior" contained in F. Chris Garcia's La Causa.

See "The Effect (s) of At-Large Elections on the Political Access and Voting Strength of Mexican American and Black Voters in Texas" for an analysis of a number of races wherein this phenomenon occurs.