On Sept. 15, 2015, the Fayette County Elections Board will hold district voting for the special election to fill the vacant District 5 Commissioner’s seat.
By the district voting process and the Board of Elections, only those qualified candidates who reside in District 5 may run, and only those voters who reside in District 5 may cast their ballots.
After contentious legal proceedings with the Fayette County Board of Commissioners and the Board of Education, the plaintiffs — NAACP Georgia Conference and 12 Fayette County citizens — represented by the NAACP Legal Defense Fund (LDF), were granted their preliminary injunction request to replace the vacant seat of Commissioner Pota Coston, who died prematurely, with district-based voting conducted during the 2014 elections.
Pota Coston was the first black person elected to the Fayette County Commission in its 194-year history. On Aug. 3, 2015, the District Court granted in favor of the plaintiffs based upon an earlier grant of summary judgment in favor of plaintiffs’ claim under Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
The scope of the ruling included the following: 1) the rights of qualified Fayette County voters to exercise the freedom to vote; 2) the undue harm to the plaintiffs of vote dilution supersedes inconvenience, change in process and cost to BOC past or current expenditures; and 3) the re-enactment, although temporary, of a district voting process that would ensure Fayette County citizens the opportunity to vote and elect a person among of their choosing (Georgia State Conference NAACP, et al. v. Fayette County Board of Commissioners et al.).
With the enactment of district-based voting, black voters make up the majority of qualified voters in District 5 (one of the five districts in Fayette County) to elect Board of Commissioners and Board of Education candidates of their choice.
According to the 2010 Census, black citizens comprise 20 percent of the Fayette County population. (2010 CensusQuickFacts).
Further, in line with the requirements under the Voter Rights Act of 1965, Section 2, black, qualified voters are geographically concentrated in the county and consistently bloc vote which allows for the construct of a district where the majority votes make up minority citizens.
This allows for district-based voting for candidates in the Board of Commission and Board of Education elections.
Notwithstanding, no black candidate had ever been elected to either Board of Commissioners or Board of Education in Fayette County’s almost two-decade [sic] history until the 2014 district-based voting.
This is regardless of past elections in Fayette County where 12 black candidates ran across party lines.
Thus, the original summary judgement posits that not only does at-large voting violate Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, it also blocks black voters the right to elect their candidate of choice no matter race or party affiliation.
The effects of the spending in litigation have made local, county and state media attention. It is within the scope of the county elected officials to cease this burdensome and costly four-year battle that has cost Fayette County citizens, at a minimum, $1 million, as of June 2015.
Nevertheless, additional costs to the plaintiffs’ legal counsel are upwards of $850,000 (NAACP Legal Defense Fund).
Fayette citizens from all races, cultures and backgrounds need consistency and fiscal responsibility from county elected officials to end the unnecessary spending on defending the discriminatory at-large voting process.
Spending in much-needed areas to improve community resources and infrastructure, employment, education and quality of life enhancements are excellent choices.
As the county continues to explore and develop its visioning initiative to improve the quality of life for citizens, the cloud of wasteful expenditures and consistent disparate treatment of minorities with the election process may dissuade newcomers from seeking Fayette County as a viable place to live and work.
According to the NAACP LDF, historically, Georgia has held the reputation of disparate treatment and discrimination of qualified minority voters, and thus blocking them from the voting process or preventing a candidate of color to a fair election process.
The LDF continues to posit that the at-large voting process has been utilized by many local jurisdictions throughout Georgia with the intent to lessen the likelihood of a candidate of color to become elected as in Fayette County.
Overall, at-large voting perpetuates discriminatory official practices and stays the course for taxation without representation.
The enactment of district voting provides for inclusiveness among all races to elect a candidate that is responsive to their needs.
Fayette County district voting will institute a positive shift in voter turnout, women’s representation, minority representation, and opportunities for all parties to run for elections. Let’s change the tide toward district voting. My tax dollars depend on it.
Gail Anderson
University of Southern California graduate student
Fayette County, District 5 resident
Fayetteville, Ga.
