Reorganizing Houston County

Dear Readers, Houston County may have its county government dragged out of the cobwebs of the distant past.  A lawsuit filed by the Biden Justice Department, days before the Inauguration of President Trump, stands posed to shake up how we elect our County Commissioners.

The 3/5th clause in the Constitution addressed a twin fear.  Because of the large number of slaves, if they ever voted, they posed a threat to White hegemony.  Yet, their numbers for census purposes were needed to stave off the wealth, power, and population advantages of the Northern states, which would overwhelm the less populated and poorer agrarian Southern states.  Hence, slaves were counted as 3/5th of a person for increasing political power, but not with voting rights.

The Reconstruction Era was the interregnum between the Civil War and the 1876 Presidential election.  Sprigs of political change grew.  The newly freed slaves voted in droves resulting in many gaining legislative positions in the South, just as the old White power structure had feared.  These nascent signs of equality were squashed with the political deal brokered to hand Rutherford Hayes the White House.

What followed was Jim Crow.  Many pockets of our country crafted legal barriers for black people to vote.  For nearly a century, voter intimidation, poll taxes, literacy tests, grandfather clauses, and even party participation rules, were crafted to suppress the political voting power of former slaves and their descendants. 

During the Civil Rights Era (in the mid-1960s), Congress passed two (2) momentous statutes, effectively bringing the curtain down on Jim Crow.  The Civil Rights Act of 1964 made clear that discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, and national origin, was forbidden.  Next came the Voting Rights Act of 1965 which empowered the Department of Justice and the Federal Judiciary to police the racially discriminatory voting and government voting districts of state and local governmental bodies.

The latter is the statute under which Houston County’s structure is being challenged.  Our county commissioners are elected “at-large.”  This means that every one of them is elected county-wide.  

Most governmental bodies have legislators elected to serve a district or precinct.  Congressional representatives are elected by district.  The same is true of our state house or state senators.  These elected officials advocate for their local constituents.  If a bus stop is added to a community, it is the result of officials advocating for its voters.  Something may not be of universal city or county interest, yet it may be locally important.

Roughly 31% of the voting populace in Houston County is African-American.  Because commissioners are elected county-wide, there has been ONE African-American County Commissioner, Houston Porter, in the entirety of Houston County’s existence.  Mr. Porter was first elected in 1980 and reelected twice thereafter.  We have African Americans who have failed in primaries and general elections, regardless of party affiliation, Democrat, Republican, or Independent.

As we all know, there is a distinct population of African Americans coalescing around the Northern and Eastern sections of Warner Robins.  In other words, and voting patterns demonstrate this, it is clearly possible to carve a County Commission seat from this contiguous community and give them a “seat at the table.”

Houston County’s formal position on the lawsuit is it needs more time to investigate.  It may be, as is often the case with these types of lawsuits, a consent order will ultimately be agreed and the structure of our County government will voluntarily change.  County Commissioners chosen by distinct districts would then ensure at least one district will comprise “majority-minority” voting members.

This lawsuit is legally sound.  Clearly, voting power has been diluted.  African-Americans spread out county-wide mean our County Commissioners are not necessarily sensitive to a distinct segment of our local populace.  Whether we have an African-American Commissioner is less important than amplifying the voices of constituents.

The unknown is what Pam Bondi, the presumptive U.S. Attorney General nominee, will do.  This complaint was brought by career government attorneys.  They serve all of us, not a party or even a President.  Historically, they have served loyally in succeeding administrations without “fear or favor.”  

Yet, they can be overruled by the policies important to President Trump.  He is pursuing policies hostile towards minority rights, which is likely to extend voting laws.  We do not know if that is true. 

Lawsuits are brought because they have legal efficacy, as this one does.  They can effect changes, regardless of politics, because it is the right result.  This is one of those cases.

Warner Robins attorney Jim Rockefeller is the former Chief Assistant District Attorney for Houston County and a former Assistant State Attorney in Miami.  Owner of Rockefeller Law Center, Jim has been in private practice since 2000.  E-mail your comments or confidential legal questions to ajr@rockefellerlawcenter.com.