A nearly five-year-old legal battle over how Fayette County elects its county leaders appears to be drawing to an end.
The Fayette school board Tuesday night voted 5-0 to settle a district voting lawsuit brought by the NAACP and a group of black residents in 2011 against the school board and the county commission. The lawsuit alleged that the county’s nearly 200-year-old at-large election system kept blacks from being elected to county office and that district voting was a more equitable way to elect county officials.
The board’s decision Tuesday came in two parts. The first part involved agreeing to a settlement that has been in the works with a federal court-ordered mediator since October. The second part called for approving a plan that creates four voting districts and one at-large district. The county now has five voting districts.
The county commission is likely to take up the issue at its board meeting on Thursday. The case has been one of the most heated issues in the county's recent memory.
“Right now, the NAACP will not have a statement until after the commissioners meet and vote on Thursday,” John E. Jones, head of the Fayette branch of the NAACP, said via email.
The school board's decision is the first definitive step in bringing the costly fight to an end. To date, both sides have spent more than $1 million each fighting the issue.
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