Houston County’s election plan negatively affects Black voters, DOJ says in lawsuit
The Department of Justice argues in a lawsuit that Houston County’s method of electing its Board of Commissioners “dilutes the voting strength of Black citizens,” court records show.
The DOJ is suing Houston County and commissioners Dan Perdue, Shane Gottwals, Gail Robinson, Tal Talton and Mark Byrd and is challenging them to change how commissioners are elected so they can create opportunities for Black voters to elect the candidates of their choice through a federal order.
“Black residents make up more than 31% of the county’s voting-age population,” the DOJ said. “In recent years, Black-preferred candidates have run for the Board of Commissioners and have routinely lost, despite the county’s sizable and growing Black population.”
The DOJ wants a federal judge in Macon to declare that Houston County’s method of electing its commissioners violates the Voting Rights Act, prohibit Houston County from conducting future elections with the current election method and order it to devise an election system that complies with the Voting Rights Act.
Houston County and the Board of Commissioners had not responded to the lawsuit as of Thursday evening.
White residents vote ‘at significantly higher rates’
The lawsuit states that Houston County has geographically and socially distinct Black and white communities, with the Black community concentrated in north and east Warner Robins. Churches and other community organizations also reflect racial separation, the lawsuit argues.
There are about 105,000 active registered voters in Houston County, with approximately 55% being white and approximately 30% being Black. Further, white registered voters in the county “turn out to vote at significantly higher rates than Black registered voters in Houston County,” the lawsuit states.
But the DOJ argues that the Black community in Houston County is “sufficiently numerous and geographically compact” to be a majority within the voting-age population in a single-member district for the Houston County Board of Commissioners under either a five-district plan or four-district plan.
Using a five-district plan, drawn using traditional redistricting principles, “a majority-Black district may be crafted that includes neighborhoods in the northern and eastern portions of the City of Warner Robins and apartment complexes along Carl Vinson Parkway,” the lawsuit says. They can also add racially diverse neighborhoods in southern Warner Robins.
Using either the five-district or four-district plan, Black-preferred Black candidates could have won a majority of votes in the most recent general election for the Houston County Board of Commissioners, as well as other countywide contests, the DOJ argues in the lawsuit.
“Thus, Black voters would have the opportunity to elect their preferred candidates in elections conducted solely within the boundaries of such a district,” the DOJ said.
DOJ provides examples of racial disparity
The DOJ cited the election of Houston Porter, the only Black candidate elected to the Board of Commissioners since Reconstruction. He was elected in 1980 by defeating an incumbent in a primary runoff election by 49 votes and uncontested in the general election. He was re-elected in 1984 and 1988 but declined to run again in 1992.
But other Black candidates have run for their Board of Commissioners as Democrats, Republicans and independents in 1992, 1994, 2002, 2016, 2020 and 2022, but all were defeated, the lawsuit states.
“In elections for the Houston County Board of Commissioners, the Black population of Houston County is politically cohesive,” the DOJ said. “And the White population votes sufficiently as a bloc to usually defeat the preferred candidate of Black voters.”
The DOJ also states that, since 2002, at least 85% of Black voters have supported Black candidates in elections for the Board of Commissioners. Although few Black voters participated in the Republican primaries in 2022, most of them supported a Black Republican candidate, the lawsuit states.
Few white voters supported Black-preferred Black candidates in elections for the Board of Commissioners. According to the DOJ, since 2016, fewer than 1 in 10 white voters have supported Black candidates.
The DOJ also argues that other countywide elections have also been affected by white bloc voting, bringing as an example how several Black candidates have run for seats on the Board of Education but were defeated even though they had cohesive support from the Black community.
The DOJ lastly argues in its lawsuit that Houston County has a history of discrimination that affects Black residents in registering, voting and participating in the democratic process.
“This includes all-White county elected officials governing a majority-Black population from the end of Reconstruction into the 1940s, discriminatory at-large municipal elections, segregated education and resistance to effective desegregation, and racially discriminatory incidents across various levels of government,” the lawsuit states.
Further, they argue that racially charged incidents persist, including students at a local high school filmed mimicking the Ku Klux Klan, and the Houston County School District agreeing to implement anti-discrimination training after it acknowledged racial harassment and retaliation concerns arising from an athletic coach’s conduct, the DOJ said.
The Black community also suffers from discrimination in education, health and employment, which “hinder(s) the ability of Black residents to participate effectively in the political process,” the lawsuit states.
Black residents are less likely than white residents to have attended a college or university and Houston County schools produce “inferior outcomes for Black students,” the DOJ argues. Black residents are more than twice as likely as white ones to experience poverty and unemployment.
The Black community is also less likely to be employed by the county in higher-paying positions, according to the lawsuit. It is also less likely to be in good health and less likely to have financial reserves to address health emergencies.
“Unless enjoined by order of this Court, Defendants will continue violating Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act by administering, implementing, and conducting future elections for the Houston County Board of Commissioners using this method of election,” the DOJ said.
This story was originally published January 16, 2025 at 6:44 PM.
