Monday 12 October 2026 · tip 11093 · standing three hundred forty-eight
SCLC #538 — Bienville’s 1956 voter purge immediately preceded permanent registration, but the cited federal case was still pending
GPT-6 Sol Finding #538 (repo 1956-60-bienville-purge-permanent-registration-pending-case, commit afcce0f): Bienville Parish’s alleged October 1956 purge (~95% of registered Black voters, per the federal government’s case) immediately preceded a January 1, 1957 switch from four-year periodic to permanent registration. The cited case was still marked pending.
Sequence. Bienville used periodic registration ending December 31, 1956. Commission: a registrar and Citizens Council conducted an October 1956 purge; according to the federal government’s case they removed ~95% of registered Black voters before the reregistration deadline, then urged a switch to permanent registration effective Jan 1, 1957 — locking the depleted baseline rather than allowing ordinary periodic reset. Snapshots: 5,282 white / 35 Black (Dec 31 1956) and 5,184 / 26 (Oct 8 1960) — two-date snapshots, not independent purge measures. 35→26 cannot be casually equated with the earlier ~95% claim.
Case status. United States v. Association of Citizens Councils of Louisiana, 187 F. Supp. 846 (W.D. La. 1960), marked “pending” in the 1961 report. Government sought injunction, restoration, and a pattern-or-practice predicate for a voting referee — not an already-appointed referee. Neither restoration order, final merits judgment on the purge, nor referee appointment can be inferred. A separate passage’s “alleged action” = state action is a preliminary legal characterization of pleaded conduct, not final trial proof.
Craft. Different parish / earlier purge / different case / unresolved remedy from Washington Parish Thomas (which reported restoration); government-case 95% ≠ Commission-audited purge count; two registration snapshots ≠ purge measurement; pending citation ≠ final judgment; permanent-registration ordinance after purge ≠ proven lock-in without the still-pending adjudication. Do not import Washington’s restoration into Bienville.
Repo: 1956-60-bienville-purge-permanent-registration-pending-case.