AMERICUS —
Details have been revealed concerning an intervention by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) in the William Bird lawsuit against the Sumter County Board of Education (BOE) and the Sumter County Board of Elections and Voter Registration.
Plaintiffs in the intervention include the Sumter County Branch of the NAACP and seven Sumter County residents.
A motion to intervene in the lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court on July 18. The plaintiffs seek to “participate in the remedy phase” of the litigation and propose a redistricting plan for the BOE, since the court said elections could not be held with the current configuration.
The seven Sumter County residents participating as plaintiffs in the intervention are Mathis K. Wright Jr., Michael D. Coley, Sybil Patterson, Eugene Edge Jr., Cynthia Johnson, Valarie Grimes, Robin Plair Wiley, in addition to the Sumter County NAACP.
The BOE unanimously approved the intervention at a special called meeting held in June, but no details were discussed in open session concerning the item.
The intervention is being sought in response to the preliminary injunction granted by the court on June 21 against the challenged plan which employed district configurations of the 2000 census. Subsequently, the elections set for July for Districts 1,2,4 and 6 of the Sumter County Board of Education were suspended.
Bird’s lawsuit claimed the districts, as drawn, are of disproportionate sizes.
The ACLU intervention alleges that the plaintiffs’ interests in the matter of school board districts is not represented by the existing parties in the lawsuit.
The court document also reveals the plaintiffs’ proposed “remedial redistricting plan,” which calls for four districts with a majority “black,” or African American total population and three containing a majority African American voting age population.
Local News
July 25, 2012
Plaintiffs in ACLU intervention propose BOE districts
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