Judges were elected by the State as a whole and held courts in all the counties in turn.

To this day, a Superior Court judge sits only six months in one district and then moves on to another.

Other States gave up local government to a greater or less extent, while still others sought to lessen the negro vote by strict registration laws and by the imposition of poll taxes.
In many sections the negro ceased to make any attempt to vote, and the Republican organization became a skeleton, if indeed it continued at all.

There was always the possibility of a revival, however, and after 1876 the North often threatened Federal control of elections.

The possibility of negro rule was therefore only suspended and not destroyed; it might at any time be restored by force.