Hall v. Holder

• Citation: 757 F. Supp. 1560
• Decision Date: 07 March 1991
• Docket Number: Civ. A. No. 85-242-2-MAC (WDO).
• Parties: Rev. E.K. HALL, Sr. et al., Plaintiffs, v. Jackie HOLDER, et al., Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Middle District of Georgia

757 F. Supp. 1560

Rev. E.K. HALL, Sr. et al., Plaintiffs, v. Jackie HOLDER, et al., Defendants.

Civ. A. No. 85-242-2-MAC (WDO).

United States District Court, M.D. Georgia, Macon Division.

March 7, 1991.

Christopher Coates, Milledgeville, Ga., Laughlin McDonald, Neil Bradley, Atlanta, Ga., for plaintiffs.

R. Napier Murphey, Cubbedge Snow, Jr., Martin, Snow, Grant & Napier, Macon Ga., W. Lonnie Barlow, Arnold & Barlow, Cochran, Ga., for defendants Jackie Holder and Robert Johnson.

ORDER

OWENS, Chief Judge.

In this civil action plaintiffs contend that Bleckley County's single county commissioner form of county government, which was established when the county was created in 1912 and has continued without change, violates the Constitution of the United States and Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act.¹

Plaintiffs are six black Bleckley County registered voters and the Cochran/Bleckley County Chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. Defendants are Commissioner Jackie Holder, the incumbent sole county commissioner, and Probate Judge Robert Johnson who also serves as superintendent of elections. O.C.G.A. § 21-2-70.

Plaintiffs contend that Bleckley County should have more than one county commissioner, that each commissioner should be elected from and by the voters of a single member district, and that the black population resides in a contiguous area so that a safe black single member district can be created to give black citizens the opportunity to participate in the electoral process and to elect one or more county commissioners of their choice.

Following extensive discovery, a non-jury hearing was held on December 4-7, 1989. Thereafter the hearing was transcribed and the parties in May, 1990, submitted lengthy, detailed proposed findings of fact and conclusions of law. All having been considered, the following constitutes the court's findings of fact and conclusion of law. Rule 52(a), Federal Rules of Civil Procedure.

FINDINGS OF FACT

1. Bleckley County, one of Georgia's 159 counties, was created by an amendment to Georgia's constitution in 1912. Its territory came from what was then Pulaski County. The amendment provided for a county government of one elected county commissioner. 1912 Ga.Laws 38. The state legislature in 1913 implemented the amendment and appointed the county's first commissioner to serve until his successor was elected and qualified. 1913 Ga. Laws 345.

2. Bleckley County encompasses some 219 square miles and is situated in rural Middle Georgia about 40 miles southeast of Macon.

3. From its creation in 1912 until today, Bleckley County has never varied from its present form of county government — one elected county commissioner. The powers and duties of the county government, also referred to as "the governing authority," are as specified by general state law, see O.C.G.A. § 36-5-22.1, applicable to all 159 counties without regard to the number of county commissioners each county may have. Bleckley County's sole county commissioner thus exercises all the powers and duties of the governing authority of Bleckley County.

4. The sole county commissioner form of county government is not unique to Bleckley County. Some 20 other Georgia counties have sole county commissioner forms of county government. See The Macon Telegraph and News, July 6, 1990.

5. In addition to having only one county commissioner, Bleckley County also has only one Sheriff, Probate Judge, Clerk of Superior Court, Tax Commissioner, Coroner, School Superintendent, County Surveyor and Magistrate, each of whom is elected by all the voters of Bleckley County.

6. According to the 1980 Census of Population, Bleckley County's total population was 10,767, having the following characteristics:

                (a)          By Race      -     Total Population
                           Black    2,367             22%
                           White    8,297             77%
                           Other      103              1%
                                _________            ____
                           Total   10,767            100%
                                                  Voting Age
                (b)          By Race      -       Population
                           Black   1,474             19%
                           White   6,175             80%
                           Other      70              1%
                                _________            ____
                           Total   7,719            100%
                

7. At the time Bleckley County was created in 1912 and 1913 very few blacks, if any, could vote. There was no evidence presented at trial to suggest that the specific act of creating Bleckley County's single member commission belied a racial motivation on the part of the Georgia Legislature. The sole commissioner form of government was not specifically selected for the purpose of further depriving already deprived blacks of the opportunity to vote or participate in the political process. The evidence does not show why the legislature chose the sole commissioner form of government.

8. Until the Civil Rights Acts of 1957, 1960, 1964 and 1968 were passed by Congress and enforced by federal authorities, Bleckley County, in common with state and local government throughout much of the United States, enforced racial segregation in all aspects of local government — courthouse, jails, public housing, governmental services — and deprived its black citizens of the opportunity to participate in local government. After the Civil Rights Acts, segregation ended and is today no longer imposed by government.

9. Brown v. Board of Education, 347 U.S. 483, 74 S.Ct. 686, 98 L.Ed. 873 (1953) and 349 U.S. 294, 75 S.Ct. 753, 99 L.Ed. 1083 (1954) ordered an end to segregated public schools. From the 1950's until around 1970, there was great public debate and discussion of desegregation, not just of public schools but of all public places. Candidates for public office during those years appealed for voter support by promising to oppose desegregation, but that practice ceased in the mid to late 1960's in Georgia and Bleckley County.²

10. The 1980 census and the well-founded opinions of plaintiffs' experts, Dr. Willingham and Dr. Engstrom, show conclusively that more black than white residents of Bleckley County continue to endure a depressed socio-economic status. This conclusion is mandated by census data showing, among other things, that: (1) 50% of the whites in Bleckley County have a high school education while less than 15% of the blacks have a high school education; (2) whites are more likely than blacks to own automobiles and have telephones; (3) the per capita income and median family income of whites is double that of blacks; and (4) while one-third of the blacks live below the federally recognized poverty level, only 9% of the whites do. This depressed socio-economic status hinders the ability of blacks to participate in the Bleckley County political process because, as Dr. Willingham opined: (1) better educated people are less threatened by having to make choices and are more likely to understand the importance of civic involvement; and (2) less educated people are more difficult to mobilize to vote even if they are registered to do so.

11. The depressed socio-economic status of black residents, including particularly the lack of public or private transportation, telephones and self-employment, hinders the ability of and deters black residents of Bleckley County from running for public office, voting and otherwise participating in the political process.³

12. Local government is not responsible for arranging engagements for candidates for public office to speak to or be exposed to the voters of Bleckley County and is, therefore, not the cause of candidates having or not having the opportunity to be exposed to the members of church, civic or social groups. Churches, civic clubs and other social groups in Bleckley County — as in most of the United States — are generally racially and/or sexually exclusive, not because of state or local government but as the result of the personal preferences of the membership.

13. Until the Voting Rights Act of 1965 was passed by Congress, black citizens were virtually prohibited from registering to vote in Bleckley County. Before the 1965 Voting Rights Act, 3,346 of the 4,528 voting age Bleckley County whites were registered to vote, but only 45 of the 1,380 voting age non-whites were registered. Immediately after the Voting Rights Act of 1965 Act passed white registration increased from 3,346 to 4,756 and non-white increased 600% from 45 to 287. (Plaintiff Exhibit 388). Since then, black voter registration has steadily increased so that today about 70% of the black voting age population is registered to vote — about the same as for today's white voting age population. (Defendant Exhibits 10-19).

14. In 1984, for the first time, black deputy voting registrars were appointed in Bleckley County, and black citizens were permitted to register in places where blacks normally congregate, such as the black Masonic lodge.

15. From 1978 to 1986, the defendant probate judge as the superintendent of county elections appointed 224 poll managers for some 17 elections; all of those appointed were white persons. He also appointed 509 poll clerks, only 30 of whom were not white. The probate judge's failure to appoint more minorities as poll managers and clerks is the subject of an unresolved lawsuit in this court. NAACP of Cochran/Bleckley County, et al. v. Bleckley County, et al., 88-32-MAC (WDO). The evidence does not show that this practice has deterred blacks from voting.

16. While the legislature of this state has never altered Bleckley County's sole commissioner form of county government, the legislature in 1985 did submit to the voters of Bleckley County by referendum the question of whether or not Bleckley County should have a county commission of six county commissioners. 1985 Ga. Laws 4406. So limited was the electorate's interest in the referendum that only 25% of the eligible voters expressed any opinion with regard to the...