Harvard-Radcliffe Group To Assist In MFDP 'Freedom Vote' Project

Several Harvard and Radcliffe students will leave for Mississippi next week to help in a "freedom vote" organized by the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party (MFDP).

The freedom vote will be held Oct. 31, Nov. 1, and Nov. 2. On those days the Negroes of Mississippi, largely excluded from the registration rolls in that state, will be able to cast ballots for Johnson or Goldwater at polls set up by the MFDP.

Aaron Henry, a Clarksdale Negro and leading figure in the MFDP, will run against Mississippi Senator John Stennis in the fredom election. But Henry's name will not appear on the official state ballot.

The MFDP will also run candidates against three state representatives.

Students who have volunteered to help in this project will enter the state on Oct. 18 and Oct. 26. SNCC hopes to recruit 250 students to help advertise the freedom election and organize the Mississippi Negro communities for the vote.

Arrests Are Expected

The volunteers will drive down to the state and live with local Negroes until Nov. 3. The students are responsible for buying their own food and putting up ball. Frequent arrests are expected.

The freedom election has three purposes: first to dramatically demonstrate that the state's Negroes would vote if they were given a chance.

Second, the MFDP hopes to challenge the legality of Mississippi's congressional elections, maintaining that the congressmen "were elected by a grossly discriminatory voting proceedure," and using the freedom vote as proof of this allegation.

Finally, the MFDP will appeal to the national Democratic party to strip its Mississippi members of their seniority in Congress.

In a similar freedom vote last fall, 30,000 Negroes voted for Henry as governor. Only 25,000 Mississippi Negroes are officially registered.