Byrd Organization - Poll Taxes

Poll Taxes

He also reduced the number of statewide offices to just three—governor, lieutenant governor and attorney general—eliminating potential bases for opposition. Several measures that had been in place well before Byrd's time also ensured his dominance. A poll tax enacted in 1902 effectively disenfranchised blacks and poor whites. The courthouse cliques of the Byrd machine strove to ensure that "reliable" voters' poll taxes were paid on time (often as early as three years before an election). The General Assembly, through circuit court judges, controlled the electoral commissions that ruled on voter eligibility. While the Organization never was able to establish a foothold in urban areas, blatant malapportionment in favor of rural areas ensured statewide dominance.

George Mason University professor William Grymes has noted that "Byrd's political power was based on the ability of the appointed and elected officials to restrict the number of voters, and ensure those few voters were supporters of the Byrd Organization." Professor Grymes illustrates that "a landslide election would have 7% of the potential electorate voting for candidates supported by Byrd, and 4% voting for the opposition... a total of less than 15% of theoretically-possible voters actually participating in the process."