County-wide voting rules diluted black electoral power before redistricting

Evidence

Uncle Billy also initiated a campaign to reform at-large elections for the Sumter County Council. At that time, county council elections were county-wide, meaning that the black vote was diluted when combined with the white vote from the entire county. As a result, a black candidate had virtually no chance of getting elected. But in a single-member district, where black voters might comprise a majority, a black candidate had a good chance of getting elected. — Dorothy A. Brown, Getting to Reparations, 42

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Literacy tests and poll taxes were written to let local officials disenfranchise black voters — Lawrence M. Friedman, A History of American Law, 2063; The 1944 white-primary ruling gave Atlanta blacks decisive electoral leverage — Kevin M. Kruse, White Flight: Atlanta and the Making of…, 81; Expanding black voting instantly reversed white officials’ refusal of black demands — Kevin M. Kruse, White Flight: Atlanta and the Making of…, 84 (+2 more)