Fayette County residents implored county officials Thursday night to abandon their ongoing fight over the county’s new voting system, calling it a costly waste of time.
“I strongly urge the new commission… take another look at what’s going on with district voting,” said Terrence Williams, who lives in District 5, the mostly minority district created under the court-ordered district plan. “Take a deeper look and spend our money wisely. There’s other things we need to spend our money on.”
“Don’t - I beg you - don’t step back,” resident Larry Younginer said. “I subscribe to the theory that change is difficult but change is necessary. Change is going to happen whether you like it or not.”
Thursday’s commission meeting came a day after a federal appeals court in Atlanta sent the Fayette case back to the lower court for a possible trial. At issue: Fayette officials’ quest to regain at-large voting system - an election process, NAACP and other opponents said systematically kept blacks from serving on the commission and school board. A district court judge agree and ordered the county to adopt a district voting plan.
Commissioner Steve Brown told those in attendance that the lawsuit was “never about Commissioner Coston. I hold her in high esteem. We’re so glad to have her.”
Nonetheless, Rep. Virgil Fludd called the three-and-a-half year voting rights fight “a bone of contention.”
“It’s been quite divisive,” Fludd, a Tyrone resident, told commissioners.”It would make sense for us to pause where we are right now. The results of the November election point to the fact we have a great team of commissioners.”
Fludd was referring to the election of Pota Coston, the county’s first black commissioner.
Coston, who was elected vice-chair at Thursday’s meeting, declined to talk about the voting rights matter during a break in the meeting.
Not everyone at Thursday’s meeting supported ending the fight. Resident Mike Coley said he moved to Fayette three years ago for its “wide open spaces, great schools and low taxes and to get away from public transportation and more government interference.”
“Fayette County is a conservative county,” Coley said, adding the NAACP voting rights lawsuit attempts “to divide citizens along racial lines.” He said the five-district voting system “took four-fifths of my voting rights away.”
The NAACP and the county - which includes the commission and school board - combined have spent more than $1 million fighting the case.
In other government business: Commissioner Chuck Oddo was elected Chairman in a 3-2 vote, replacing Steve Brown who served in the job for a couple of years.
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