Citation: National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. Affidavit of Jefferson County Voters Denied Access, August 2, 1934. NAACP Papers, Part 04: Voting Rights and the Voting Rights Campaign, 1916–1965. ProQuest History Vault.
This affidavit records the denial of voting rights to multiple Black citizens in Jefferson County, including the failure to open designated polling places and other administrative practices used to block legally qualified voters from participating in Democratic primaries. It is significant because it reveals how disenfranchisement operated not only through formal law, but through local election management and discretionary enforcement. The document also highlights the gap between constitutional rulings and political reality, showing that exclusion persisted even after major legal challenges to the white primary. As Darlene Clark Hine emphasizes, the power of the white primary lays in its concrete effects on Black political participation, while Michael Klarman shows how southern resistance often blunted legal victories. This source can be read alongside related affidavits to demonstrate multiple ways local officials barred Black voters from the polls.