Quote:
Both Shelby County and Alabama were the subject of a federal block on voting-related changes and named parties in a federal civil rights suit in 2008, when 180 of the state's counties and municipalities refused to alter their at-large election districts. The absence of distinct geographic districts –- which often cluster voters by both race and class –- made it virtually impossible for the state's growing black and Latino populations to ever win city-wide elections for seats on hundreds of county commissions and city councils, school boards and water districts, Haygood said.
“Shelby County was and is the very kind of place for which the Voting Rights Act was written,” he said. “So, it's pretty unbelievable that this case has come from this community.”
Quote:
In 2008, Gray was involved in the suit against 180 Alabama counties. Last year, the problem came even closer to home. Gray, a long-time active voter, discovered that a new county election official had removed his name and about 500 others from the voter rolls in Evergreen, Ala. the small 4,000-person town and boyhood home to which Gray retired. The most recent census found that the city is 63 percent black, but the majority of the city council's seats are held by white politicians who live in largely white sections of town.
“Listen, it's plain to see that when Shelby County decided to take up this fight, they didn't ask anybody who would be in a position to know if there are still real problems,” he said.
When the Justice Department became aware of Evergreen's changed voter rolls and new district lines, which the city council had also failed to submit for approval, it used Section Five to stop the town's planned August 2012 county elections. Federal officials asked the town for more information.
Elections have not been held.