Georgia election officials have scrapped a plan to close almost all polling places in a rural southwest county after critics charged that it would disenfranchise African-American voters.
Randolph County’s board of elections and registration rejected the proposed cost-saving measure to close seven of the county’s nine polling stations. Michael Malone, the consultant who recommended closing the polling places because they did not meet Americans with Disabilities Act standards, was fired on Thursday.
“After consideration of the proposal presented by our consultant and considering the public input from the hearing, we have elected not to proceed with closing any polling places in Randolph County,” a statement by the two-member volunteer board read. “In the United States, the right to vote is sacred. It is a right that many generations of brave men and women have fought and died for. The interest and concern shown has been overwhelming, and it is an encouraging reminder that protecting the right to vote remains a fundamental American principle.”
National and local civil-rights groups vehemently protested the plan and spearheaded petitions and a rally against it. The ACLU of Georgia, the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, and the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law threatened to sue to stop the proposal.
Of the 7,000 people in Randolph County, 60 percent are African American, and 30 percent live in poverty. The ACLU had argued that public transportation was not available to all those without cars, who might need transportation to one of the two remaining polling places should the proposal be adopted.
The Congressional Black Caucus also opposed the plan, saying it flouted the 1965 Voting Rights Act.
“We are deeply concerned that the bedrock tenets of democracy would be under attack should this proposal be adopted and implemented,” they wrote to county officials.
“This is a victory for African American voters across Georgia who are too often subject to a relentless campaign of voter suppression,” said the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law’s president and executive director, Kristen Clarke. “The right to vote is the most sacred civil right in our democracy and we stand fully prepared to defend that right throughout the midterm election cycle.”
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