Members of DeKalb County's state legislative delegation have decided not to file their own complaint with the U.S. Department of Justice about a legislative bill that would give Dunwoody residents the right to vote for incorporation.
Rep. Stan Watson (D-Decatur) said Thursday that instead he and other members of the delegation likely will join a complaint already filed by Stone Mountain resident Calvin Sims, a candidate for a DeKalb commission seat.
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"We think Mr. Sims has a good suit, and we'll probably join him," Watson said.
Sims argued in his complaint that, according to the concept of "home rule," only DeKalb legislators should have been allowed to vote on SB 82, not the entire Georgia legislature.
The bill, passed in the last legislative session, is being reviewed by the Justice Department under the Voting Rights Act.
A Justice Department spokesman said he could not comment on the review, but said Justice has a 60-day time frame in which to study the bill. That review period ends May 27, he said.
Brian Anderson, a member of the executive committee of Citizens for Dunwoody, the nonprofit group that spearheaded the effort to obtain an incorporation vote, said he did not anticipate any problems with the Justice Department review.
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