## Facts

- A vacancy arose for Justice of the Peace in Georgia’s 789th Militia District, Sumter County, after the incumbent died in June 1965.
- The county Ordinary called a special election for July 20, 1965.
- Candidates included Mary F. Bell (a Black candidate and qualified elector), J. W. Southwell (a white candidate), and several other white candidates.
- The election was conducted under racially discriminatory conditions attributed to state officials, including intimidation of Black voters and racially segregated voting arrangements.
- Following canvassing under state procedure, Southwell was declared the winner.
- Plaintiffs did not pursue a timely state election contest; instead, after the state contest period expired, they filed a federal civil-rights action under 42 U.S.C. §§ 1971, 1981, 1983, 1985 and 28 U.S.C. § 1343 alleging unconstitutional discrimination in the conduct of the election.

## Issues

1. Whether a federal court has authority under the Constitution and federal civil-rights statutes to set aside a completed state election and order a new election when the election was conducted under gross, state-compelled racial discrimination.
2. Whether equitable relief is barred because the discrimination allegedly would not have changed the winner based on vote totals.
3. Whether the availability and expiration of state election-contest procedures precludes a federal civil-rights remedy.
4. Whether federal courts are limited to prospective relief rather than invalidating a completed election.

## Decision

- The Fifth Circuit reversed the district court’s denial of relief.
- The court held federal courts have equitable power to invalidate a state election and order appropriate relief, including a new election, where state-imposed racial discrimination infected the election process.
- The court rejected the district court’s reliance on (i) a “no change in outcome” calculation, (ii) the lapse of state contest remedies, and (iii) a categorical claim that federal courts lack power to void state elections.
- The case was remanded with directions to set aside the election and grant appropriate relief consistent with the constitutional violations found.

## Legal Principles

- Federal courts may set aside state or local elections when pervasive, state-sanctioned racial discrimination taints the voting process and denies equal participation protected by the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments.
- The injury from a racially discriminatory election includes denial of a fair and equal electoral process; relief is not defeated by speculation that the same candidate would have won absent the discrimination.
- State election-contest procedures and their time limits do not displace or condition federal jurisdiction and remedies for constitutional voting-rights violations under the Civil Rights Acts.
- Federal equitable remedies may extend beyond prospective injunctions to include invalidation of completed elections when necessary to cure constitutional violations.

## Conclusion

The Fifth Circuit held that where state officials conduct an election under gross racial discrimination that corrupts the electoral process, federal courts may void the election and order effective remedial relief, notwithstanding state contest deadlines or claims that the outcome would have been unchanged.


Bell v. Southwell, 376 F.2d 659 (5th Cir. 1967)