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WASHINGTON, D.C.-- A southwest Georgia county has agreed to change the way it elects its three-member county commission in order to resolve allegations that its current system does not provide an equal opportunity for black citizens to participate in the electoral process, in an agreement reached with the Justice Department and black citizens of Marion County, represented by the American Civil Liberties Union.

The agreement, which will be submitted for approval today to federal district court Judge Hugh Lawson in the Middle District of Georgia, resolves the Justice Department's lawsuit filed in October 1999 and the ACLU's lawsuit filed in late September 1999. Both suits, consolidated by today's agreement, alleged that the at-large method of voting used to elect the Board of Commissioners in Marion County, Georgia violates the Voting Rights Act of 1965 because it dilutes the voting strength of black voters in the county. The agreement provides that the Marion County Commission will use three single-member voting districts, one of which is majority-black and two of which are majority-white, beginning in the November, 2000 general election.

"We are very pleased to achieve a settlement that will ensure that all voters in Marion County will be able to fully participate in the democratic process," said Bill Lann Lee, Acting Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights.

Although black citizens make up more than 40% of the total population of Marion County, black voters have never been successful in electing a candidate of their choice to the three-member county commission. Under the county's at-large system, each of the Board's members must receive a majority, or more than 50%, of the votes of the entire county to be elected. The Justice Department's analysis of previous county elections found that though black voters in Marion County are politically cohesive, white voters, who form a majority of the county's electorate, usually vote as a bloc to defeat the black community's candidate of choice. This bloc voting, in combination with the use of an at-large election system, results in a dilution of the voting strength of the black community in Marion County in violation of the Voting Rights Act.

Today's agreement to replace the at-large method of election with a system of racially fair single-member districts is the result of extended settlement negotiations between the Department, black citizens of the county, and county officials.

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