On May 27, 1988, David Lucas, Willie Davis, Jr., Connie Cater, Corlis McKenzie, and Ronnie T. Miley (“the appellants”) filed this lawsuit in the Middle District of Georgia seeking declaratory and injunctive relief. The appellants sought to enforce the provisions of section 5 of the Act and to enjoin “deprivation under color of state law, statute, ordinance, regulation, custom or usage of the rights, privileges and immunities secured to plaintiffs by
42 U.S.C. §§ 1971,
1973,
1973c and
1983, and the first, thirteenth, fourteenth and fifteenth amendments of the Constitution of the United States....” The appellants also filed a motion for a preliminary injunction. A three-judge court denied preliminary injunctive relief, holding that section 5 of the Act did not require preclearance of the date selected for a special referendum.
Lucas v. Townsend, 686 F.Supp. 902 (M.D.Ga.1988). The Supreme Court granted an injunction pending appeal on May 30, 1988. Because of state law notice requirements for holding a bond referendum, the postponement resulting from the injunction rendered the appeal moot, and it was dismissed.