The white minorities included several thousand who had been rejected by the registrars but restored by the military commanders.

Though large numbers of blacks were dropped from the revised rolls as fraudulently registered, the registration statistics, nevertheless, bore clear witness to the political purpose of those who compiled them.
Next followed a vote on the question of holding a state convention and the election of delegates to such a convention if held--a double election.

The whites, who had been harassed in the registration and who feared race conflicts at the elections, considered whether they ought not to abstain from voting.

By staying away from the polls, they might bring the vote cast in each State below a majority and thus defeat the proposed conventions for, unless a majority of the registered voters actually cast ballots either for or against a convention, no convention could be held.

Nowhere, however, was this plan of not voting fully carried out, for, though most whites abstained, enough of them voted (against the conventions, of course) to make the necessary majority in each State.