Fight over Fayette election system continues

“The lawsuit, by no means, is a statement against (incoming commissioner) Pota Coston. We like Pota. She’s a nice woman. We think she’ll do a great job. (But) it’s very important to continue with the lawsuit. We’d said all along, even if the ruling didn’t go our way, we’d appeal. We think we’re right. When we looked at some other areas that have purely district voting you tend to get a fiefdom mentality. People tend to gravitate to their specific district. We do think there’s legal grounds for our stance. We’re saying that the case for eliminating at-large voting is essentially unconstitutional. There is no merit to what they’re saying. To garner an African-American majority (district), they had to go clear across the county …to artificially created (the district).”

- Chairman Steve Brown

——————-

“The appeal will help determine whether (changing the voting system) was the proper thing to do, and it will help us get better clarification. It will give some clarity to the original judge’s decision one way or the other. It just needs to be done for clarity.”

- Vice Chairman Charles Oddo

—————————-

“I do think the (lower court) judge was in error. I look to our team of lawyers to look at the legalities.”

- Commissioner David Barlow

—————————-

“I do believe it’s an important fight. It has served to divide our county. We’re a county of one citizenry. Everybody’s equal. They all have the same opportunities in the county. Our residents have lost four-fifths of their voting rights by going to district voting. Before, every citizen could vote for every commissioner. Now you can only vote for the commissioner in your district which means you have more people representing you than you can vote for. District voting made me the minority in my district and that helped Ms. Coston win. I do believe any qualified candidate anywhere in the county would have a chance of winning if their people would get out and vote for them.”

- Commissioner Allen McCarty. McCarty lost to Coston in the District 5 race.

——————-

“Considering I was elected at large by the majority of the voters and the lawsuit took away four-fifths of their voting rights, it’s very important. I want the at-large voting system restored. The citizens deserve to have their voting rights back.”

- Commissioner Randy Ognio

Last year, a federal judge ordered an end to Fayette County’s at-large method of electing some officials, agreeing that it diluted black voting strength. The county was divided into districts, and 18 months later, voters elected the first black commissioner in Fayette’s 193-year history.

Some in the county celebrated the new system of voting. But others say such manipulation was unnecessary in a county as small as Fayette. Already, they say, black people sit on Fayetteville’s city council, and there’s a black judge. The new districting, they argue, is only serving to divide the county in unintended ways.

On December 10, they’ll take their case before a three-judge appeals panel at the 11th Circuit Court.

"We're really ardent about what we believe," said Steve Brown, chairman of the five-member county commission, which is all white. So far, the county has spent three years and nearly $300,000 fighting for at-large voting, which is the way county commissioners and school board members had been elected. Since May, the Fayette Board of Education has spent more than $200,000 preparing for the appeal, according to documents obtained by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. That does not include money spent prior to the appeal.

But voting rights experts say Fayette may wind up on the wrong side of history in its attempt to cling to its former political structure.

Since 1982, all but a few of the nearly 100 challenges to at-large voting in Georgia have been successful, according to Laughlin McDonald, Atlanta-based director emeritus of the ACLU Voting Rights Project. Given the results of Fayette’s recent election, McDonald said, opposing the new system is “so counterproductive.”

In the end, former state legislator Robert “Bob” Holmes said, Fayette may damage its image by continuing to fight.

“It’s like Don Quixote tilting at windmills,” added Holmes.“Why waste the county’s money when we know what the outcome’s going to be? It’s bad for the county’s image as well. Any corporation, once hearing about this attempt by county commissioners to reverse efforts to achieve racial progress, may have second thoughts. It’s like trying to roll back the clock.”

But county officials say they have the law on their side.

“There’s one main issue: Was the at-large voting system a violation of section 2 of the Voting Rights Act?” said Anne Lewis, a partner in the Atlanta law firm of Strickland Brockington Lewis. “The position of the commission is that it wasn’t because there was not a naturally-occurring majority-minority district, which is a requirement for a violation of Section 2.” Lewis will represent the Fayette commission in the appeals hearing. Another firm is representing the school board.

The commissioners said the county’s black population isn’t large enough or geographically compact enough to warrant a mostly-black voting district. They also said at-large voting lets people elect all five commissioners and school board members instead of just the one in their district.

“I do believe it’s an important fight,” said Allen McCarty, who lost his seat on the commission to Pota Coston, the first African American elected, when District 5 was created. “It has served to divide our county. We’re a county of one citizenry. Everybody’s equal. They all have the same opportunities in the county. Our residents have lost four-fifths of their voting rights by going to district voting. Before, every citizen could vote for every commissioner. Now you can only vote for the commissioner in your district, which means you have more people representing you than you can vote for. District voting made me the minority in my district and that helped Ms. Coston win. I do believe any qualified candidate anywhere in the county would have a chance of winning if their people would get out and vote for them.”

But supporters of the new system say it’s wrong to cling to an outdated political structure that has kept whites in power for nearly two centuries.

“They’re still trying to hold on to the past. That’s really what this is all about,” said Leah Aden, assistant counsel for the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, which represents a group of black Fayette residents.

Aden cited a 2010 school board race in Fayette where a black woman ran against white man. The woman got 99 percent of the black vote, 15 percent of the white vote and still lost.

“Black people can overwhelmingly prefer a candidate but that doesn’t matter when they are the minority in Fayette County,” Aden said.

An appeals decision is expected to take months.

In the meantime, Coston’s election as commissioner of the mostly black District 5 has unearthed simmering tensions in this county of 108,000.

In a Nov. 13 commission meeting welcoming Coston, a Democrat, Commissioner David Barlow unleashed a diatribe, referring to democrats as "evil" and "demoncrats."

But, he said, “Even though I disagree with how she won, I look forward to working with her.”

Barlow later apologized but not before igniting a firestorm throughout the community. The episode illustrates the political and racial rift that has developed.

“It really signals we have a long way to go,” said Dawn Mabra, a black resident who is chair of the county’s Democratic committee. “We have a lot of healing to do in this county.”