A federal judge has denied a request for a special election in November from Patrick Braxton, a Newbern resident who claims to be the town’s first Black and rightful mayor. Braxton filed a lawsuit alleging that his predecessor, Haywood Stokes III, and other city councilmembers violated the Constitution and several laws, including the Voting Rights Act, by conducting a special election to usurp his power.
Braxton and a slate of Black city council members, who were elected alongside him, sought a preliminary injunction in late March to hold a special election in November. U.S. District Court Judge Kristi K. Du- Bose ruled that while Braxton and his fellow plaintiffs are likely to succeed on the merits of their constitutional claim, they did not prove they would suffer irreparable harm if the special election were not held.
In her decision, Judge DuBose noted that the plaintiffs initiated their lawsuit in 2022, two years after the white mayor and council held a meeting at Newbern Town Hall. She cited the plaintiffs’ delay in seeking a preliminary injunction as a factor in her ruling. “Plaintiffs have fallen short of establishing irreparable harm between now and the September 2024 trial,” DuBose ruled, denying the motion.
Braxton’s case is set for a bench trial in September in Selma.
Stokes does not dispute Braxton being the only resident to qualify for mayor. However, Stokes claims there was nothing improper about the special election held by the council, which resulted in the council declaring themselves the winners and appointing Stokes as mayor.
Braxton’s lawsuit alleges that the special election was illegal and that neither he nor the town’s Black residents were notified about it. The lawsuit claims that the defendants’ actions violated the Alabama Code and denied Newbern voters a legally required election, thereby eroding the democratic process and due process.
The suit also alleges that the defendants prevented Braxton and the all-Black council from performing their duties by changing the locks on the town hall and preventing access to city documents and bank accounts. Additionally, the lawsuit claims that Newbern has not held an election in decades, with white residents treating elected offices as “hand me down” positions.
The NAACP Legal Defense Fund, which began representing the plaintiffs last week, emphasized the importance of judicial intervention to protect voting rights. Morenike Fajana, special counsel for the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, stated, “The repeated failure of Newbern officials to hold or give notice for a municipal election — for decades — is unfortunately emblematic of ongoing attacks against Black voters.”
The lawsuit accuses the defendants of violating the Voting Rights Act, citing Alabama’s history of racially discriminatory voting restrictions and societal discrimination against Black Alabamians. It claims that the defendants’ conduct resulted in the discrimination of Black voters by preventing them from participating in municipal elections.
The plaintiffs argue that they have no adequate remedy at law other than judicial relief and that the infringement of their rights by the defendants is ongoing and likely to continue without court intervention.
