Houston County elections board hit with another lawsuit over discrimination. What we know
Just a week before Election Day, the Houston County Board of Elections was sued again for allegedly denying Black residents an equal opportunity to vote, according to court records from Thursday.
The most recent lawsuit was filed by the Southern Poverty Law Center on behalf of Jaqueline Rozier and Hiram Morgan. The SPLC was founded in 1971 by a group of lawyers to sue on matters regarding racial discrimination.
Andrew Bennett, the chair of the Board of Elections, was also sued on accusations of denying Black residents, such as the plaintiffs, “an opportunity to participate in the political process,” according to Ajay Saini, the senior staff attorney at the SPLC who is representing Rozier and Morgan.
“The Voting Rights Act, passed 60 years ago this year, was enacted to protect communities from just this type of discrimination,” Saini said.
At-large election methods in jurisdictions where Black voters constitute a minority of the voting-age population defeat the preference of Black voters, as well as staggered terms and runoff elections, according to the lawsuit.
The lawsuit requests a judge to declare that the Board of Elections violated the Voting Rights Act and enjoin them from administering elections until their method complies with the act.
New lawsuit similar to prior case from DOJ
The DOJ sued Houston County Commissioners Dan Perdue, Shane Gottwals, Gail Robinson, Tal Talton and Mark Byrd after its civil rights division investigated the lack of Black commissioners in the board before arguing that they had violated the Voting Rights Act. Courtney Driver and Michael Jones, two residents of Houston County, then joined in the lawsuit on Jan. 25 before the civil rights division of the DOJ froze. The DOJ ultimately pulled out of the lawsuit, but the Houston County residents remained in the case.
They additionally sued Pamela Morgan, the former chair, and the Board of Elections of the county.
The Houston County commissioners were dismissed from the lawsuit in April, and then Morgan and the board attempted to discredit Driver and Jones’ participation in the lawsuit, court records show. Judge Marc Treadwell blocking that effort from the public officials on Sept. 2. Treadwell ruled that they could remain in the lawsuit because Driver and Jones established they were voters in Houston County. Their case remains pending.
Bryan Tyson, the attorney for the board of elections, told The Telegraph that he doesn’t expect the Board of Elections’ response to be different from their statement in regards to the previous lawsuit.
“Houston County will always follow the law,” Tyson said at the time. “At this time, Houston County is continuing to investigate the allegations made by DOJ and determine whether the evidence supports those allegations. We will also continue to speak with members of the community about DOJ’s claims. Importantly, the DOJ lawsuit does not contain any allegations of intentional racial discrimination in Houston County.”
Lawsuit includes new examples of alleged racism in Houston County
Despite the growing Black population in Houston County and the attempt of Black politicians running for the Houston County Board of Commissioners, white politicians have been elected as a result of bloc voting, the lawsuit says — which indicates that Black voters have less opportunity to participate in the political process and elect the candidates of their choice, according to the lawsuit.
Only one Black candidate, Houston Porter Jr., has won a seat in the commissioners board since 1980. He had served on the board until 1988, which was the last time a Black politician sat on the board, despite them running in the following years as Democrats, Republicans and nonpartisan.
White bloc voting since Porter’s last term in 1988, and the long history of discrimination against the Black community in Houston County, resulted in the regular defeat of Black candidates, according to the lawsuit.
The lawsuit provides examples of recent incidents that have impacted the Black community in the county, including allegations of white high school students imitating the Ku Klux Klan and two complaints filed with the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights, when a cheerleading coach employed by the district creating a racially hostile environment for Black students.
The social disparities that the Black community experiences compared to white residents in Houston County has caused them to suffer as students, who are less likely than their white peers to participate in the district’s academic programs, and future homeowners, who are far more likely to be renters, according to the lawsuit.
Their health outcomes relating to infants and children will also be affected, as they are twice as likely to experience incidents of low-birth weight, infant mortality and child mortality, the lawsuit warns. Black residents in Houston County are also more likely to experience poverty as well as unemployment.
“SPLC filed this case to vindicate the rights of long-standing Black residents of Warner Robins,” Saini told The Telegraph. “(Rozier) has been a leading advocate pushing for fair representation on the County Commission for years. SPLC is hopeful that this lawsuit will help the County take steps to ensure that all voices in Houston County are adequately represented on the Commission.”
This story was originally published November 3, 2025 at 6:00 AM.
