A federal judge Tuesday tapped state redistricting experts to help in redrawing voting lines in Fayette County, the first step in changing a voting system that has historically made it harder for black candidates to be elected to county-level office.
Judge Timothy Batten’s order calls for the Georgia Legislative and Congressional Reapportionment Office to help him evaluate new district maps or “remedial plans” submitted by the school board, county commission and the NAACP, which sued Fayette two years ago over its at-large voting system.
Batten’s latest decision comes three months after he ordered Fayette to move to a district voting system that includes one majority-minority district to give black candidates a better shot at being elected. No black person has served on the school board or commission in Fayette’s 192-year history.
Roughly 20 percent of Fayette’s population is black, with most black residents living in the northern half of the county. Fayetteville, in the northeast part of the county, is 24 percent black, and Tyrone, on the northwest border, is a third black.
While the judge weighs solutions, the county and the NAACP continue their verbal sparring.
Fayette Commission Chair Steve Brown accused the civil rights group of peddling its own brand of racism by creating a map that shuts out the incumbents. But the NAACP insists its remedy isn’t intended to slight the incumbents.
via Judge seeks state’s help in resolving Fayette voting issue | www.ajc.com.
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