The Voter Education Project (VEP) began in 1962 as part of the Southern Regional Council. Initially VEP granted funds to civil rights organizations to support voter education, voter registration drives, and voting-related research. In 1964, Vernon Jordan, the second executive director of the VEP, expanded the programs goals to include citizenship training, voter education, and leadership training in the southern United States, while continuing to provide funds to independent voter and civil rights groups, including the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), and the League of Women Voters. The VEP’s work with the League of Women Voters is highlighted in the materials below.   In 1971, VEP under the leadership of John Lewis, became an independent organization and functioned as a research center and became known as an authoritative source for statistics on southern elections and voter registration in general. Lewis also forged the VEP into an activist organization, launching Voter Mobilization Tours with Georgia state legislator and civil rights advocate Julian Bond. 

At the AUC Robert W. Woodruff Library we are always striving to improve our digital collections. We welcome additional information about people, places, or events depicted in any of the works in this collection. To submit information, please contact us at DSD@auctr.edu.
Sep 4, 2020

Voter Education Project Organizational Records

The Voter Education Project (VEP) began in 1962 as part of the Southern Regional Council. Initially VEP granted funds to civil rights organizations to support voter education, voter registration drives, and voting-related research. In 1964, Vernon Jordan, the second executive director of the VEP, expanded the programs goals to include citizenship training, voter education, and leadership training in the southern United States, while continuing to provide funds to independent voter and civil rights groups, including the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), and the League of Women Voters. The VEP’s work with the League of Women Voters is highlighted in the materials below. In 1971, VEP under the leadership of John Lewis, became an independent organization and functioned as a research center and became known as an authoritative source for statistics on southern elections and voter registration in general. Lewis also forged the VEP into an activist organization, launching Voter Mobilization Tours with Georgia state legislator and civil rights advocate Julian Bond.

At the AUC Robert W. Woodruff Library we are always striving to improve our digital collections. We welcome additional information about people, places, or events depicted in any of the works in this collection. To submit information, please contact us at DSD@auctr.edu.

For:
  • Subjects = Voting
Flyer depicting children on a porch asking people to vote in the general primary run off elections. 1 page.
Voter Education Project Organizational Records
Andrew Young, a prominent civil rights activist and former United Nations ambassador, failed to become Georgia's first Black governor in a run-off election, despite efforts to build a multiracial coalition and attract businesses to the state. The article highlights the challenges faced by Black candidates in the South, including a lack of support from White voters and an inability to mobilize enough Black voters to win statewide races. 1 page.
Voter Education Project Organizational Records
Announcement on how eligible disabled voters in San Francisco should take advantage of this new policy to ensure their right to vote in upcoming elections. 1 page.
A report by the nonpartisan Southern Regional Council (SRC) in Atlanta suggests that the Democrats could win a majority of the Southern states in the next presidential election with only a modest increase in Southern White support, if the rate of registration and turnout of Black and Hispanic voters equals that of whites in 1992. The study shows that Democratic gains in predominantly White precincts were cancelled out by a sharp decline in votes since 1984 in majority Black precincts, and that Democratic inroads into White urban voters in the South were nullified by the party's failure to increase the actual number of Black votes. 6 pages.
Flyer listing registration deadline and voting day. 1 page.
Voter Education Project Organizational Records
A brief history of the VEP, with a plan and objections for the program in 1986. 11 pages.
Voter Education Project Organizational Records
During 1984, the National Coalition sponsored OPERATION BIG VOTE coalitions in 25 states and the District of Columbia, resulting in the highest ever reported Black voter registration at 66.3 percent, an increase in turnout to 56 percent, and the net gain of 2.5 million voters, with plans to continue nationwide operations in the future. 6 pages.
Voter Education Project Organizational Records
Flyer listing voting locations and voting issues in the special election. 1 page.
Voter Education Project Organizational Records
Flyer for the 20th anniversary of the Voting Rights Act. 1 page.
Voter Education Project Organizational Records
A brief history of the VEP, with a plan, goals and budget for the program. 11 pages.
Voter Education Project Organizational Records
A Voter Education Project study based on an analysis of predominantly Black and White precincts in Georgia found that the estimated number of Black voters in the 1984 election was over 50% higher than in 1980, with a turnout rate of 64%, and that White turnout was higher than Black turnout, with 74% of registered White voters casting their votes for Reagan and 5% of Black voters doing the same. 1 page.
The Voter Education Project found that in the 1984 presidential election, Black voter turnout exceeded 60% in Georgia and Alabama, with Alabama being the only southern state where Black voter turnout was not less than White voter turnout, and while President Reagan won both states, he only won 5% of the Black vote in Georgia and 7% of the Black vote in Alabama. 1 page.
The author alerts their research findings to show more racial polarization in the November 6 election than the exit polls, and disagrees with those who claim exit polls are more accurate, citing examples of discrepancies in past elections and flaws in sampling and self-reporting, and challenges the argument that behavior in mixed precincts is different from all-Black or all-white precincts, and suggests that exit polls gain credibility through exposure but may not necessarily be accurate. 2 pages.
Voter Education Project Organizational Records
The results of a Voter Education Project study show that an estimated 3.3 million Black voters went to the polls in the South during the 1984 election, representing an increase of 586,000 over the previous election, with the increase due to both population growth and registration drives, and the vast majority of Black voters supported Walter Mondale. 1 page.
Voter Education Project Organizational Records
The article discusses the gender gap in the 1984 Presidential election, which refers to the difference in voting patterns between men and women. Despite President Reagan's sweeping victory, the gender gap remained a significant feature of the political landscape, with Mr. Mondale's biggest women's majorities coming from minority groups. 1 page.
Voter Education Project Organizational Records
The article discusses the success of women candidates in the Sept. 29 elections in New Orleans, where women won several political positions, breaking the tradition of bias against women in politics in the city and statewide. 14 pages.
The League of Women Voters of Georgia, a nonpartisan organization providing election information through its voter service program presents this guide to candidates and Constitutional Amendments for the November 6, 1984 General Election. 4 pages.
Voter Education Project Organizational Records
VEP research department essay by Brian Sherman, Ph.D. and K. Farouk Brimah on the increase of participation in voting by the Black population in the South, listing states and percentages. 16 pages.
Black-voter registration and turnout has increased dramatically in the past year, with some of the highest increases occurring in the South, and while Rev. Jesse L. Jackson's presidential candidacy is often credited with this phenomenon, analysts argue that the Reagan Administration's policies, particularly its effort to weaken the Voting Rights Act, played a significant role in spurring voter registration drives and increasing Black voter turnout. 1 page.
Voter Education Project Organizational Records
Black voter registration has increased almost 2-to-1 compared to White voter registration in the past 18 months in North Carolina's 2nd Congressional District, potentially giving state Rep. Kenneth B. Spaulding, a Black candidate, an advantage in his bid to defeat the White incumbent, I.T. "Tim" Valentine, for the Democratic nomination in the upcoming primary election, where Black voters are expected to turn out in large numbers, spurred by Jesse L. Jackson's presidential candidacy. 1 page.
Voter Education Project Organizational Records
"Increase and Impact: Black participation in Southern politics, 1984", and "Project votes reaches the poor". 8 pages.
Renita Jimmar, a 23-year-old supervisor for American Telephone and Telegraph, became Leighton's first Black mayor-elect after winning the July 10 election with 230 votes, defeating the incumbent Eugene Boatwright, and plans to work on improving the town's recreational facilities for young people and obtaining federal funds for housing, water, and sewer improvements. 1 page.
Voter Education Project Organizational Records
"Making Democracy Work" brochure expressing the history, actions, and goals of the VEP.
Voter Education Project Organizational Records
The Republican incumbent George Israel won the mayoral general election in Macon, Georgia with 44.1% of the city's Black vote, while only 45% of registered voters participated in the election, and White voters overwhelmingly supported Israel. 1 page.
Voter Education Project Organizational Records
The Voter Education Project is hosting a Contemporary Conference on Voting Rights Issues at Virginia Union College, which aims to increase Black voter registration and participation, examine the obstacles to achieving equal Black representation, and discuss strategies for elevating registration and increasing the level of sophistication and staying power of Black registered voters in the state of Virginia and the South. 4 pages.
Voter Education Project Organizational Records
A recent Census Bureau report revealed that Southerners, particularly Georgians, had lower voter turnout compared to other regions in the United States during the previous year's general election, with only 38.6 percent of Georgia's voting age population reporting that they voted, the fourth lowest turnout among all states and the District of Columbia. 1 page.
Voter Education Project Organizational Records
VEP Press Release announcing "The Plight of Black Colleges and Universities: The Political Impact" conference held at the Robert W. Woodruff Library in Atlanta, Georgia on October 28, 1983. The conference will address the threat to historically Black colleges and universities and explore solutions such as merger strategies, converting them into vocational institutions, and increasing voter registration among Black students. 2 pages.
The Voter Education Project is seeking state legislators' support to abolish the undemocratic relic of one-person governing boards, which 15% of Georgia's counties still have, and according to a study, this form of county government cannot be found outside Georgia; Georgia's devices such as one-person boards and the requirement of runoffs have a chilling effect on efforts by racial and other minorities to achieve effective representation, and VEP officials argue that this facilitated the one-party system which eliminated Blacks as an effective political force a century ago. 3 pages.
Voter Education Project Organizational Records
The article discusses the primary runoff system in Southern US states and its potential impact on Black voters, as well as its effectiveness in promoting consensus-building and preventing rule by cliques, but also its drawbacks such as increased costs and a proliferation of candidates. 1 page.
Voter Education Project Organizational Records
The Voter Education Project projects a 14% increase among voting age Blacks in 11 southern states by November 1984, citing a diversity of factors such as deteriorating economic conditions, unemployment, and recent political victories, with the potential for up to 3 million Black votes in the 1984 presidential election. 2 pages.
Voter Education Project Organizational Records
In 1983, W. Wilson Goode became Philadelphia's first Black Democratic nominee for mayor, winning by a small margin and receiving over 90% of the Black vote, although race was not a prominent theme in any candidate's public statements; Goode's victory resulted from a mobilization of the Black community in the form of registration campaigns and turn-out-the-vote drives which paralleled the Harold Washington race in Chicago, and he will run against two White candidates in the November general election. 4 Pages.
The Voter Education Project reports that Louisiana had the lowest Black voter turnout in 1982, with only 30% of registered Black voters casting their ballots, and is planning to hold a statewide conference on "Contemporary Voting Rights Issues" at Southern University in Baton Rouge to encourage Black voter participation. 3 pages.
Correspondence From Samuel F. Daly to Geraldine Thompson regarding a booklet, "How to Register and Vote in North Carolina" from 1944. Daly used to teach African Americans to register and vote while working as a high school teacher in Warren County, N.C., but was fired for his efforts. The sender reported the incident to the State Board of Education, which resulted in the superintendent being found guilty of embezzlement and sentenced to ten years in prison, after a white citizen made complaints.  1 page.
Voter Education Project Organizational Records
Flyer encouraging people to register with the voter registration drive. 1 page.
Voter Education Project Organizational Records
Outline and notes on voter targeting, on how to maximize the effectiveness of campaigning with few resources. 9 pages.
Voter Education Project Organizational Records
Article about how Black voters voted majority for Wyche Fowler for 5th Congressional District. 1 page.
Voter Education Project Organizational Records
Article on 35 Black officials to meet with the state's only Black pollster to discuss informing the community to keep them involved in active political participation to get results. 1 page.
Voter Education Project Organizational Records
Article about how Black voters voted majority for Wyche Fowler for 5th Congressional District. 1 page.
Voter Education Project Organizational Records
The Voter Education Project analyzed the results of the runoff for the U.S. Fifth District Congressional seat in Atlanta, finding that Black voters overwhelmingly supported White incumbent Wyche Fowler, disproving the idea that a majority of Black registered voters guarantee a Black victor, and also revealing that the higher the income level, the higher the percentage of votes approving the sales tax referendum. 1 page.
Article about how whites voted majority for the Republican nominee Bob Bell over Democrat Harris. 1 page.
Voter Education Project Organizational Records
The Voter Education Project analyzed the runoff for the Republican nominee for the U.S. Fifth District Congressional seat and found that White Georgians voted at more than twice the rate of Blacks, resulting in a majority of Whites actually voting for the Black Republican nominee Paul Jones, who would have lost if he had received less than 40% of the White vote; voter turnout was light, with less than one percent of the registered voters going to the polls, and more than two thirds of those at the polls being White. 1 page.
Article on the low percentage of voter turnout for GOP runoff elections and a VEP study on how Black voters were a very low percentage of that small group. 1 page.
Article on the low percentage of voter turnout for GOP runoff elections and a VEP study on how Black voters were a very low percentage of that small group. 1 page.
Voter Education Project Organizational Records
"City commission term may be over before court decides on McLean suit", and "This time out, Black voters got their message across", articles on Jack McLean's delayed trial hearing and how increased Black voting turnout helped elect more Black political leaders and flip parties in some elections. 3 pages.
Article on how Paul Jones won the congressional nomination because of White voter turnout. 1 page.
Voter Education Project Organizational Records
A program draft for the twentieth anniversary conference on voter participation.
Voter Education Project Organizational Records
Article on the VEP celebrating their 20th anniversary. 1 page.
Voter Education Project Organizational Records
Article on the VEP taking a break to celebrate the voting rights act and their successes in increasing the Black vote in the South. 1 page.
Voter Education Project Organizational Records
Article on how Bibb County Black voters outnumbered White voters for the fist time in two elections. 1 page.
Voter Education Project Organizational Records
An analysis showed that there was little difference between the way Black and White Atlantans voted for the candidates with the highest percentages of votes in the city, and despite a 20% gap between the Black and White voting age population, one third of those registered to vote actually went to the polls, with Norman Underwood and Jack Watson receiving the highest percentages of votes. 1 page.
Voter Education Project Organizational Records