South Fulton residents have already started to vote in a referendum that would decide whether the area of about 100,000 people will become a new city. But on Thursday, a federal judge will hear arguments that the election shouldn’t be happening at all.
John Davis, a South Fulton resident, filed suit in the Northern District of Georgia last week, claiming that his right to vote will be “diluted and debased” if the referendum takes place as scheduled.
His attorney, Robert Highsmith, has asked the court for a temporary restraining order on the election.
Because of a series of lawsuits regarding what areas will be in the City of South Fulton, Highsmith said, the borders remain malleable. But the legislation that allows for the referendum, and the orders of various judges, mean some people who may not be in the city will have a chance to cast their ballots for or against its existence.
“We really don’t have an accurate picture of what the boundaries are,” Davis said.
Davis, who wants to remain unincorporated and would vote against the city, said by having some voters in limbo, his and others’ votes are infringed upon.
In one area, the Fulton Industrial District, residents are eligible to vote in the election, but cannot become part of the city. A companion piece of legislation that would have repealed a law that keeps the district from being incorporated or annexed into a city was not passed.
This fall, in a case also argued by Highsmith in which Atlanta tried to annex the district, the state Supreme Court ruled that the law is valid and the district could not be annexed or incorporated into a city.
Still, the residents there will have a vote on the City of South Fulton. Fulton County director of elections and registration Richard Barron said he did not know how many voters were in the district, but that it could be several hundred.
Additionally, residents who are disputing their annexation into Atlanta will be able to vote in the referendum, even though they may not live in the new city.
Fulton County spokeswoman Jessica Corbitt said in an email the county did not have a response to the suit, which seeks to stop the elections board from allowing the vote.
Highsmith, with Holland & Knight, said the vote could simply be put off until the next election, in March. Before then, he said, the court cases could be resolved and the legislature could fix the borders in Fulton Industrial.
“I’ve never seen anything where people who don’t live in a jurisdiction are being allowed to vote,” he said. “There’s no reason to rush this.”
About the Author
