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 = Political science
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
Press release on how the Voter Education Project found that one-third of counties in eleven southern states had a Black population of 27% or higher in 1980, with opportunities for voter registration and turnout activities. Mississippi had the most Black majority counties, and South Carolina had the highest percentage of counties with 27% or higher Black populations. 2 pages.
Voter Education Project Organizational Records
Press release on a study of the 1981 Atlanta Municipal elections by the Voter Education Project shows that Blacks alone provided enough votes to elect Andrew Young on October 27. Blacks won all four municipal elections in majority Black constituencies, and whites cast an even higher percentage of their votes for white candidates. 2 pages.
Voter Education Project Organizational Records
Press release on how the VEP found that in the October 6, 1981 City of Atlanta municipal elections, four white candidates won in majority Black districts and all three elections in majority white districts, while Black mayoral candidates received 57% of the total vote and the highest percentage (58%) of registered voters cast ballots in the mayoral election. 2 pages.
Press release on how 95% of Black registered voters in the South who turned out in the 1980 presidential election voted for Jimmy Carter, with a range of 92-97% in different states. Ronald Reagan won only 82,000 Black votes, ranging from 2-6% of the total Black vote. The study found that socioeconomic differences among Southern Blacks did not significantly affect their voting behavior. 2 pages.
Article on the 1976 election, and how the VEP made spot-checks of predominantly Black precincts in each of the 11 southern states and determined that, on average, between 60 and 70 percent of all registered Blacks turned out to vote, with over 95 percent estimated to have voted for Jimmy Carter for President. 1 page.
Article on a group of combat veterans, who were formerly foot-soldiers of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, gathered to relive the civil rights campaigns of the 1960s, and talked about the early days of the organization and their struggles, and reflected on their current involvement in good causes, such as elected politics, labor organizing, community projects, and health care. 1 page.
Voter Education Project Organizational Records
Article arguing that Jimmy Carter did not bring back the old Democratic South, but instead won the support of Black and moderate White voters who were previously disenfranchised, and that this demographic shift may lead to a shedding of conservatism in the South. 1 page.
The VEP launched a voter mobilization tour which aimed to visit all 11 southern states before election day, and featured a combination of voter registration and get-out-the-vote efforts, with a focus on educating and motivating nonparticipating segments of society to take an active role in selecting government leaders and having a voice in decisions affecting collective lives. 1 page.
Voter Education Project Organizational Records
The Federal Election Commission authorized the League of Women Voters to sponsor the proposed presidential campaign debates between Jimmy Carter and Gerald Ford, which are expected to cost $150,000 each and start about the third week in September, but there remains a question regarding the role of independent candidates like conservative Lister Maddox and liberal Eugene McCarthy, who have indicated they will go to court if necessary to force the networks to give them equal time with the two major candidates. 1 page.
Voter Education Project Organizational Records
Article on the status of the proposed presidential debates between Jimmy Carter and President Ford. Carter speaks on the need for the president to have closer control over the Federal Reserve Board, while Ford meets with his Cabinet and Carter campaigns for votes. 1 page.
Voter Education Project Organizational Records
Article about negotiators for President Ford and Jimmy Carter tentatively settling on three nationally televised campaign debates beginning the third week in September 1976. 1 page.
Voter Education Project Organizational Records
The article discusses the upcoming presidential debates between Jimmy Carter and Gerald Ford, as well as the potential problems that may arise, including financing issues and opposition from other presidential candidates. It also touches on the candidates' campaign strategies and their views on various issues, including Medicaid fraud and foreign policy. 1 page.
Voter Education Project Organizational Records
Article about the Federal Election Commission authorizing the League of Women Voters to sponsor and raise money for the proposed presidential campaign debates between Jimmy Carter and Gerald Ford, with the remaining question being the role of independent candidates like Lester Maddox and Eugene McCarthy. 1 page.
Voter Education Project Organizational Records
A coalition of labor and civil rights groups called the National Coalition on Black Voter Participation has launched Operation Big Vote, a bipartisan registration drive aimed at registering millions of Black voters who have never voted before, with Democrats Jimmy Carter and Walter F. Mondale likely to be the major beneficiaries of any increase in Black voter participation. 1 page.
Voter Education Project Organizational Records
John Lewis, Executive Director of the Atlanta-based Voter Education Project, displays Proclamations from Governors of ten southern states designating July as �Voter registration Month�. 1 page.
Voter Education Project Organizational Records
Federal Regulations, with the objective of making the registration and voting process for language minority groups comparable to that of English speakers, and providing guidance on compliance with Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act. 6 pages.
Editorial discussing the opposing views of Mayor Jackson and Senator Talmadge on extending the 1965 Voting Rights Act, with the former supporting its extension and the latter opposing it because it does not cover the entire nation, but ultimately recommends that the bill should be extended regardless of the Senator's proposed amendment. 1 page.
Voter Education Project Organizational Records
John Lewis testified before a Senate Judiciary Subcommittee, stating that the southern states had not complied with the Voting Rights Act, and permanent voting rights protection was needed, as citizenship education efforts had been hampered by noncompliance with the Act. 1 page.
Voter Education Project Organizational Records
Joint Center for Political Studies publication with articles on extending the Voting Rights Act and urban homesteading. 16 pages.
Voter Education Project Organizational Records
Joint Center for Political Studies publication with articles on the Voting Rights Act of 1975. 8 pages.
Voter Education Project Organizational Records
This publication is issued by the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights as part of its clearinghouse function. It discusses the coverage, administration, and other subjects covered by the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and the Voting Rights Act Amendments of 1970. 29 pages.
Voter Education Project Organizational Records
A report of news and events around the U.S. and the world. 4 pages.
Voter Education Project Organizational Records
Suggestions on how to make the voting rights act more effective in getting Blacks registered and more equitable to southern states who are willing to comply, report with statistics. 11 pages.
Voter Education Project Organizational Records
Two newspaper clippings describing a report and criticisms surrounding the consolidation of the Atlanta and Fulton County governments. 2 pages.
Voter Education Project Organizational Records
A newspaper clipping of an article describing a move by the Georgia General Assembly to weaken a law which limited corporate influence on state government. 1 page.
Voter Education Project Organizational Records
Press release from political analyst Nick Thimmesch regarding President Nixon's careful and deliberate approach to his first six months in office. Some critics seized on his minor mistakes as evidence that his administration was coming apart. Thimmesch also discusses the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which he regards as instrumental in registering black voters in the South, despite an uncertain future. The administration proposed a substitute plan that would rely more on local courts and broaden the scope to cover all states. However, seasoned voter-registration workers argued that this plan would not be as effective as the current law, and that it would disproportionately impact the South. 3 pages.
Voter Education Project Organizational Records
A note and two newspaper clippings regarding speakers Julian Bond, Horace Ward, and Bayard Rustin, at a two-day institute in Mississippi sponsored by the Southern Regional Council. 3 pages.
Voter Education Project Organizational Records
Press release from the Democratic National Committee regarding the radical right's retaliation against President Lyndon B. Johnson's Great Society programs in 1967. They worked to cut off funds and cripple Great Society programs, discredit and write off the Johnson record, and divide and confuse supporters of the Johnson administration. Despite this, the Democratic Party leadership remained confident that these destructive and divisive forces could be turned back. They pointed to the fact that the Republican House victories in 1966 were narrow victories and that the percentage of loss for the Democrats was less than that suffered by President Eisenhower in 1958 and President Truman in 1946. 3 pages.
Magazine article discussing how the 1966 midterm elections were a major victory for the Republican Party, which gained 47 seats in the House of Representatives, three seats in the Senate, and eight governorships. The GOP's success was attributed to a number of factors, including discontent with the Johnson administration's handling of the Vietnam War, inflation, and the backlash against civil rights legislation. The election results also set the stage for the 1968 presidential election, in which the Republicans were expected to be a strong contender. 14 pages.
Voter Education Project Organizational Records
Newspaper clipping regarding Governor George Wallace's unwillingness to reapportion the state legislature of Alabama. 1 page.
Voter Education Project Organizational Records
A newspaper clipping describing candidates in the November elections. 1 page.
Voter Education Project Organizational Records
A newspaper clipping describing the results from a state election. 1 page.
Voter Education Project Organizational Records
A newspaper clipping of a table showing vote totals for Montgomery County. 2 pages.
Voter Education Project Organizational Records
A newspaper clipping regarding election day. 1 page.
Voter Education Project Organizational Records
A newspaper clipping describing the unpledged elector slate in Alabama. 1 page.
Voter Education Project Organizational Records
A newspaper clipping of a flier advocating votes for pledged democratic electors. 1 page.
Voter Education Project Organizational Records
A newspaper clipping regarding the unpledged Democratic elector slate in Alabama. 1 page.
Voter Education Project Organizational Records
A newspaper clipping describing the Alabama State Legislature's racial investigation committee hiring an investigators. 1 page.
Voter Education Project Organizational Records