Heavy turnout expected for Fayette special election Tuesday

Fayette County has been without a fifth commissioner since July 3 when Pota Coston succumbed to cancer six months in her term. Tuesday, voters in District 5 will go to the polls to select Coston’s successor from a slate of three.

Coston was the first black person to serve on the county commission, a feat aided by a federal judge’s 2013 order that forced the county to drop at-large voting for district voting. The county is in a legal fight with the NAACP and some black residents who say at-large voting has kept blacks from fully participating in the county’s electoral process.

Fayette election officials are gearing up for what is expected to be a heavy turnout on Tuesday at the nine precincts in District 5. More informaiton is available on myajc.com here.