This meant that in November 2022, he could not help set up voting machines for Newbern's most recent election.īraxton was also unable to access town financial information, which is maintained by the People's Bank of Greensboro. Stokes and his council allegedly changed the locks for a third time, and according to the lawsuit, Braxton and his council have not had "uninterrupted access" to the building since April 2021. 2021, when he found that "someone had removed official Town documents from the building." He then changed the locks to maintain access. Braxton was not able to access the building until Jan. In December of 2020, the defendants allegedly had the locks changed at Town Hall. It's not clear by what operation of law Braxton would have lost the position. They admitted that a special election was held to put themselves in town council positions, and "admit that Defendant Stokes became Mayor of the Town of Newbern after Plaintiff Braxton lost the position by operation of law." The defendants did admit that Braxton was the only person to qualify for mayor, and that no other candidates qualified for mayor or council membership. In a response to Braxton's lawsuit, reviewed by CBS News, Stokes and his council "admit that Plaintiff Patrick Braxton is Black and is the former Mayor of the Town of Newbern," and denied many of the allegations. An attorney representing Stokes and his council members declined to comment, but said that his team had recently filed a motion to dismiss the federal lawsuit, which has been filed in the Circuit Court of Dallas County, Alabama. Braxton was allegedly not informed of these filings.īraxton's representatives did not respond to requests for comment from CBS News. Stokes and his council filed their oaths of office with the probate judge, according to the lawsuit. They then "effectively reappointed themselves" to their positions, Braxton alleged, and "unlawfully assumed their new terms" and were sworn in in November, even as Braxton assembled his own town council.Īlabama legislature starts work on new congressional maps as deadline looms 04:33 Because the election was not publicized, only Stokes and his council members qualified. No notice of that election was ever published, according to the lawsuit. Meanwhile, in August 2020, just weeks after his election, Stokes and his council members Gary Broussard, Jesse Donald Leverett, Voncille Brown Thomas and Willie Richard Tucker allegedly "met in secret to adopt a 'special' election ordinance." Notice of the meeting was not published, and the group set a special election for Oct. Braxton asked both Black and White residents to serve, but no White residents agreed to join his council, according to the lawsuit. This was in line with previous mayoral administrations, who also appointed council members. Only one Black person has ever served on the town council.īraxton was elected mayor by default, making him the first Black mayor of Newbern in the 165 years since the town was founded.īraxton was informed by county probate Judge Arthur Crawford that because no one had qualified or been elected to town council positions, he could appoint people to the positions, according to the lawsuit. All prior mayors have been White residents, the lawsuit said, even though about 85% of Newbern's population is Black. However, Braxton said that the "minority White residents of (Newbern), long accustomed to exercising total control over the government, refused to accept this outcome." Haywood Stokes III, the acting mayor of Newbern, instead allegedly worked with acting town council members to hold a special election where he was re-appointed to the mayoral seat and keeping Braxton from taking office and carrying out mayoral duties.īraxton said in the lawsuit, which CBS News reviewed, that Newbern had not held an election "for decades." Instead, "the office of mayor was 'inherited' by a hand-picked successor," and that mayor then chose town council members, again without an election. The other plaintiffs - James Ballard, Barbara Patrick, Janice Quarles and Wanda Scott - are people that Braxton hoped to name to the city council of Newbern after he was elected to office in 2020. Patrick Braxton, 57, is one of several plaintiffs named in Braxton et al v. A Black man who says he was elected mayor of a rural Alabama town but has been kept from taking office by White leaders of the town has filed a federal civil rights lawsuit.
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