Georgia's argument over "at-large" elections and minority vote dilution will not be heard by the Supreme Court.
Black voters claimed the so-called "at-large" electoral system diluted their votes, but the Supreme Court declined to hear the case. The case challenged Georgia's public utility board election system.
The justices' disinterest in getting involved may make it more difficult for challenges to these at-large voting systems—which opponents refer to as a "relic of Jim Crow"—to proceed in three Southern states.
A federal judge ruled that the staggered, statewide election system used to pick Georgia's five Public Service Commission members violates the Voting Rights Act. Following the 11th US Circuit Court of Appeals' reversal of that decision, Black voters filed an appeal with the Supreme Court.
The Supreme Court made no comments regarding the quality of the arguments when it decided not to take up the case on Monday. Nonetheless, the action preserves an 11th Circuit precedent that may have an impact on future Voting Rights Act litigation filed in the three states the circuit covers—Florida, Georgia, and Alabama.
“The Black voters' appeal was deemed unsuccessful by the 11th Circuit because they failed to present a remedy to address the purported vote dilution and preserve the at-large system that the state had selected for the commission"
The voters noted in their request that, if upheld, the precedent set by the 11th Circuit would make it more difficult, if not impossible, for additional Voting Rights Act challenges to be brought against at-large election schemes. These challenges would include challenges to local entities that use that election method, such as school boards.
The Supreme Court shouldn't hear the case, according to Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr, who also emphasized the commission's "unique" qualities. The commission is in charge of policing investor-owned utilities in Georgia, such as telephones and power plants. According to his brief, the appeals court did not preclude challenges from other governmental bodies that hold elections using at-large procedures.
According to the Georgia brief, "the outcome may be different in other cases, with other government bodies, and there is no reason to intervene here, specifically."
Earlier in the case, the Supreme Court took the side of the Black voters, upholding a trial court judgment that postponed the 2022 elections for two commission seats so that a new system of commissioner elections could be developed by the legislature.
