After a lengthy but successful battle to change Fayette County’s voting structure to give black residents a better chance to get elected, last week’s round of candidate qualification failed to draw a large pool black candidates.
Out of a dozen candidates running for school board and county commission, only two black candidates - both Democrats - will be on the May 20 primary ballot. One is running for the District 5 county commissioner seat, the majority-black district. The other is running against a field of Republican challengers for the Distrct 4 school board seat. The District 5 school board race initially drew a black candidate who pulled out at the last minute.
“We spent the better part of two years messing around with this lawsuit and a black candidate withdraws from the ranks. You’d think there’d be candidates coming out of the woodworks,” said county commission chairman Steve Brown, a Republican, who is seeking re-election against two Republican challengers
The slate of candidates comes just weeks after the county and the NAACP, which sued the county over its voting system, agreed to a federally-mandated change to district voting, replacing the county’s nearly 200-year-old at-large voting practice.
But organizers who waged the fight to change Fayette’s voting system say their challenge did what it was intended to do.
For 15 years, black residents in Fayette pushed without much success for district voting, which is favored by the Voting Rights Act. However changing demographics in the last decade renewed efforts in the last few years.
There are few at-large systems left in Georgia. Since 1982, virtually all of the nearly 100 challenges to at-large systems in Georgia have been successful. Blacks make up 21 percent of Fayette county, with most concentrated in the northeastern part, where the new District 5 is located. The NAACP, on behalf of a group of black residents, sued the county in August 2011 over its voting system.
“The suit was not filed simply to elect black candidates,” said Rep. Virgil Fludd, who was instrumental in getting the NAACP suit launched. “Rather, the suit was brought so that the voices of black voters could be heard regardless of their preference for a particular candidate. The incumbent school board candidate in District 5 has represented the views of that district, which is why he has no opposition. This is reflective of the intention of the lawsuit.”
District 5 is represented by Leonard Presberg, a white incumbent Democrat who faces a Republican challenger. He initially faced another challenger, John Culbreth, who is black. Culbreth said he pulled out because he felt he didn’t have enough time to adequately prepared for the election.
The May 20 election will be the first time voters will use district voting. District voting was put in place by a federal judge who agreed at-large voting essentially blocked blacks from getting elected to countywide seats.
The county, which spent about $300,000 fighting the NAACP lawsuit, agreed last month to the judge’s redrawn map, which has five voting districts, in order to be ready for May’s election. The county, however, has not ruled out appealing the judge’s order.
Meanwhile, a political newcomer and a veteran challenger are the two black candidates who waded into Fayette’s political fray.
Ogechi Oparah is running against four republican challenges for District 4 school board. The Fayette County native and is a graduate of Princeton University. The learning specialist is also a data management expert, said Dawn Mabra, chairman of the Fayette County Democratic Committee.
Tyrone resident Pota Coston, no stranger to Fayette politics, is running against incumbent Allen McCarty for the District 5 county commission seat. Last fall, Coston lost her bid for a seat on the Tyrone City Council by six votes.
Ed Dubose, immediate past president of the Georgia state conference of the NAACP, said the short time between drawing the district voting lines Feb. 18 and the end of the qualifying period for the May primaries might have inhibited some from running.
“We just won the fight this year,” he said. “Once people have time to sit down and reflect on what happened, you’ll see real participation by African Americans in future races.”
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