Town told to hold 1st vote in decade

Butler blacks finally will get voice after 11th Circuit orders election

BYLINE:  Bill Rankin STAFF WRITER 
DATE: January 21, 1995
PUBLICATION: The Atlanta Journal and The Atlanta Constitution
EDITION: The Atlanta Journal Constitution
SECTION: STATE NEWS
PAGE: A/1

On Friday, the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta upheld a challenge by black residents who said Butler's voting system was racist. The court also ordered the town, 40 miles east of Columbus, to hold its first elections since 1986.

The city of 1,673, which is 46 percent black, has never elected a black official. Its five-member council and mayor were elected by at-large voting in 1986. Blacks filed their challenge in 1986, contending that at-large voting allows the white majority to elect all the officials.   A Georgia town that has not held elections in almost a decade has been ordered to open its polls again - and soon.

On Friday, the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta upheld a challenge by black residents who said Butler's voting system was racist. The court also ordered the town, 40 miles east of Columbus, to hold its first elections since 1986.

"I thank God," said the Rev. Clarence Lawson, head of the Taylor County NAACP. "We'll finally have a voice."

The city of 1,673, which is 46 percent black, has never elected a black official. Its five-member council and mayor were elected by at-large voting in 1986. Blacks filed their challenge in 1986, contending that at-large voting allows the white majority to elect all the officials.

U.S. District Judge Robert Elliott halted all elections until the matter could be decided. The appeals court said he abused his discretion by failing to find a remedy to the problem for almost a decade.

Saying it could find "no logical explanation" for further delay, the appeals court ordered the scheduling of special elections within 30 days. It said council members now must be elected from two districts, with the mayor elected by a plurality.

"This don't sound good," said James L. Spillers, who has been mayor for 14 years. "This decision's

not right."

The new system should guarantee that at least two members of the council will be African-American, said Laughlin McDonald, an American Civil Liberties Union lawyer who represented the plaintiffs.

"The court has sent a clear message to an all-white city council that has made the democratic process a joke, and to a district court judge that indulged it," McDonald said.

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