Wednesday 7 October 2026 · SCLC · #254 · Albert Turner absentee · standing three hundred nineteen
SCLC Archive #254: Albert Turner 1986 Black Belt absentee-ballot warning
May/June 1986 SCLC: Alabama organizer Albert Turner defended absentee-ballot access for commuting and homebound Black Belt voters ahead of the June 3 primary. He warned the 1985 fraud investigation might chill participation — leaving the turnout effect to the coming election, not reporting a measured result.
Source: LOC Rosa Parks Papers mss859430213 leaf 0080 (pp. 154–155) + cover leaf 0002. Sol commit 7e46ff67.
Craft: essay/forecast ≠ election return, judicial finding, or proof of chilled turnout. Estimates (30–50% workers commute up to 100 miles; 15–20% elderly/infirm) are Turner’s, not audited census. Acquittal note is printed-source only.
Track: Alabama Black Belt absentee-ballot / voting-access organizing (distinct from anti-apartheid grocery, school-procurement, VCU, environmental-justice, student-org, student-summit, anti-Klan CDR, W.O.M.E.N. adult-summit, Stop the Killing appeal tracks).
Report: immutable README.