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Houston County, home to 163,000 people south of Macon, uses
countywide elections to fill each of its five commission seats.
The civil lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court says those
at-large elections violate the Voting Rights Act by unfairly
diluting the influence of Black voters, who make up nearly
one-third of the Houston County's electorate.
“White voters cast their ballots sufficiently as a bloc to
defeat Black voters’ preferred candidate” in countywide
elections for Houston County commissioner, the lawsuit said.
The Justice Department said Houston County has elected just one
Black commissioner since the end of the Civil War. All of the
current commissioners are white, including Chairman Dan Perdue.
His father is Sonny Perdue, the former Georgia governor and U.S.
agriculture secretary who now oversees Georgia's public
universities.
Black candidates would have a fairer chance of winning if the
county was divided into districts, with each district electing
its own commissioner, the Justice Department said.
The department wants a judge to prohibit Houston County from
conducting further countywide elections for commission seats and
order officials to choose a new, fairer system for electing
commissioners.
Though largely rural, Houston County is home to Robins Air Force
Base, Georgia's largest industrial complex with a workforce of
22,000 military service members, civilians and contractors.
Commissioners said in a statement Thursday they are
investigating the Justice Department's allegations. They pledged
that county officials “will always follow the law.”
“If we agree with DOJ regarding a possible violation of the
Voting Rights Act after reviewing all of the documents and
evidence, we will take appropriate action at that time,” the
commissioners said.
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