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The Department of Justice has filed lawsuits against a Georgia and Tennessee county alleging that their election processes violate Black voters' rights, per Atlanta Black Star.
In Houston County, Georgia, the Board of Commissioners is elected through an at-large voting method, which means candidates are chosen by a plurality of all voters in the jurisdiction. The DOJ alleges that this method gives Black voters fewer opportunities to elect the candidates of their choice.
According to the DOJ's lawsuit, there are "geographically and socially distinct Black and white communities" in Houston County, spurring the dilution of the Black vote through the at-large method. A Black person was last elected to the Board of Commissioners in 1992 despite Black voters consistently supporting Black candidates.
The DOJ suggests commissioners should be elected from "fairly drawn single-member districts" to give Black voters equal opportunity to elect a representative of their choice.
“The Voting Rights Act guarantees that all eligible citizens have an equal opportunity to participate in the democratic process and to elect representatives of their choice, regardless of race or ethnicity,” Kristen Clarke, assistant attorney general of the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division, said in a statement amid the January filing.
The Justice Department also filed a lawsuit against Fayette County, alleging that it adopted a redistricting plan that dilutes Black voting power.
According to the DOJ, Fayette County’s Board of Commissioners intentionally declined to implement multiple proposals to combine Black communities during the 2021 redistricting cycle. The proposal would've allowed predominately Black communities to elect the representative of their choosing.
Since adopting its new redistricting plan, four Black candidates have lost in Fayette County's general election, the DOJ said. A Black candidate has never been elected to the County Commission, which boasts 19 members.
“The right to vote is sacred and is the foundation for our ability to exercise all other civil rights,” Clarke said amid the lawsuit. “Black voters should have the equal opportunity to elect their candidates of choice, but the redistricting map adopted by Fayette County did not provide that opportunity.”
The lawsuits were filed prior to President Donald Trump taking office. It's unclear how the suits will move forward after the Justice Department was recently ordered to halt all new civil rights cases and investigations.
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