3rd Circuit says no discrimination in 'Vangy registrar vote

The Third Circuit Court of Appeal has upheld a ruling that Phyllis J. Green was not discriminated against when she failed to win the Evangeline Parish Registrar of Voters job.
Green was a candidate in April 2007 to succeed Ted Soileau, who resigned.
She and Doug Deville, Darrell McGee and Lucas Buller were nominated for the job and Buller was appointed after two rounds of voting.
Green, a 30+- year employee in the registrar’s office, sued, claiming she had been discriminated against on the basis of age, gender and race.
The police jury denied the allegations and District Judge Larry Vidrine agreed, ruling against Green. She appealed to the 3rd Circuit.
At the time Deville was jury secretary-treasurer, McGee was a self-employed businessman and Buller was a former bank vice president employed at a local engineering firm. All are white.
Green claimed discrimination because she got no white votes, according to the case record.
At the trial, African American jurors Richard Thomas and Ronald Doucet said they had no personal knowledge that race, gender or age had anything to do with the votes cast by the jury.
The other jurors testified that race, age or gender had nothing to do with their decisions, which they said were based on other considerations.
“The evidence indicates that the Jurors who voted for Mr. Deville did so for reasons arising out of his service to them in his capacity as Secretary Treasurer of the Evangeline Parish Police Jury. The evidence further indicates that those who voted for Mr. Buller did so for reasons of political alliance with Mr. Buller’s father who was a former colleague of theirs. Such evidence shows that the members of the Jury were not discriminating against Ms. Green for reasons of her race, gender, or age,” the case file notes.
The Third Circuit said in its ruling this month:
“The trial court found there was no showing that Ms. Green’s age, gender, or race actually played a role in the Police Jury’s decision making process. We agree.
“Although Ms. Green was qualified to be the Registrar of Voters, she has failed to prove that her age, gender, or race had any bearing whatsoever on the Police Jury’s decision not to appoint her for the position. Ms. Green even admitted at trial that no member of the Police Jury ever told her that her age, gender, or race were the reasons why she was not appointed to be the Registrar of Voters.
“ When asked why she felt that the Police Jury had discriminated against her, she explained, ‘I didn’t get any white votes that night. All I had was the two black votes that the police jurors [sic], and I was a woman[,] and I was black, and I didn’t get out of the other seven I didn’t get any white votes . . . .’
“Our review of the evidence in the record reveals that it contains a reasonable factual basis for the trial court’s conclusion, and the record does not establish that the trial court’s findings were clearly wrong or manifestly erroneous.”