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 W.D.V.: Did you get registered?

 Thomas: I got registered, yeah, but as a Democrat. But they said, "Look,

 you're not supposed to vote in the Democratic primaries," and there again

 I told them, "Well, if you open the damn polls, I'll be there." And of

 course, the Democrats didn't like it because I voted in their primaries.

 I voted. I told them that if they opened the polls I would damn sure be

 there, and I was. Now, in the general election, of course, then you got

 a different colored slip, you got a white slip or a blue slip in the

 general election, but hell, I voted in the Democratic primaries for years.

 And I lived in a couple of small towns and the Democrats didn't like it,

 but you know, I was just kind of a pest.

 W.D.V.: So when you came South thirty years ago, you looked for the

 Republican party and their wasn't any?

 Thomas: Right. I mean, there was a paper organization, but that's all.

 There was no organization whatsoever. And the few people who were

 Republicans, most of them had probably many years ago migrated from the

 North, and they wanted a blood sample. I mean that really and truly, they

 wanted your credentials to go way back prior.to the Civil War before they

 would accept you as a Republican. And they were so negative, the people

 that I found who were Republicans were really negative and it's no wonder

 that they didn't attract anybody to the Republican party, because they

 were "aginers." And I don't know whether you realize this or not, but

 when you are in Alabama, you should research this, there is one county

 in Alabama that seceded from the Confederacy. Winston County and it has

 always been Republican. It's called the Free State of Winston. And

 they are the orneriest damn people in the world and some of the finest.






From the Southern Oral History Program, #4007, Interview 4-4S in the Southern Historical Collection,
University of North Carolina Library, Chapel Hill. FOR REFERENCE ONLY: PERMISSION TO
PUBLISH MUST BE REQUESTED. WARNING: MOST MANUSCRIPTS ARE PROTECTED BY COPYRIGHT.