Sandy Springs wants out of Voting Rights Act

By April Hunt

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Sandy Springs is considering using its history — or lack of it — to try to become the first Georgia city to bail out of the Voting Rights Act.

No municipality in the nation has successfully sued the U.S. Justice Department for an exemption from the act’s Section 5 since the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in June that jurisdictions could seek to be relieved from federal oversight of elections.

“We are probably the perfect city to bail out,” said Sandy Springs councilman Doug MacGinnitie, a leading advocate of the move. “There is no bad, or good, history on elections here.”

Congress passed the act in 1965 to stamp out illegal efforts to deny minorities access to voting. It applies to all or part of 16 states, including Georgia and much of the Deep South.

Under Section 5, jurisdictions covered by the act must get federal clearance to change any election procedure, no matter how small.

Sandy Springs became a city in 2005 and gained national attention then for contracting many government services to the private sector.

In keeping with that philosophy, the city this summer found a private contractor that agreed to handle the Nov. 3 election for about $250,000. The City Council backed away from the move when it realized it wouldn’t have time to get the proposal to the Justice Department in time.

It will instead pay Fulton County about $400,000 to run its elections this year.

“Having more flexibility if we can opt out is a cost savings,” councilwoman Karen Meinzen McEnerny said. “It’s as simple as that.”

Whether seeking to bail out will be that simple is now up to two attorneys: Doug Chalmers, of Johns Creek, and Jason Torchinsky, of Washington. The city has hired them to draft a report on the likelihood of success if its spends $25,000 to make its case for an exemption.

The possibility that a city might earn an exemption has been the topic of discussion at seminars on election law, in various city halls and in law offices around the country since the nation’s highest court upheld the Voting Rights Act.

Attorneys are trying to parse comments by Chief Justice John Roberts, who wrote in the majority opinion that “all jurisdictions” were eligible to file suit to be exempted.

Many believe that cities will earn the exemptions, though Sandy Springs appears to be the first city to hire attorneys to try, Chalmers said.

“I don’t think anyone is surprised that an attempt to do this is going forward,” Chalmers said. “It’s just good government.”

The move could draw negative attention, however, given the political and legal consensus that the Voting Rights Act remains valid. Congress in 2006 reauthorized the act for 25 years.

Even the Supreme Court’s ruling this summer left the bulk of it intact. Indeed, some cities agreed to pay for federal clearance on elections because it erased any taint of discrimination or racism, Emory University law professor Michael Kang said.

But he also said cultural shifts and a growing skepticism over the need for oversight may prompt cities to seek an exemption and effectively prove they have no pattern of discrimination or history of subverting minority votes.

“Some wonder if the act is relevant in a world where African Americans are increasingly involved and politicaly effective,” Kang said. “If it’s not useful, why not bail out?”

MacGinnitie agrees. What drove him on the issue was saving the city money, while also giving it more independence to set its own agenda.

“Historically, there was an effort to do anything to disenfranchises African Americans,” he said. “That Georgia is gone. Our money is better spent on sidewalks and parks today.”