By Sandy Sanders
There was a time when counties like Echols, Lanier or Rayburn could have as much say about the outcome of a statewide election as Fulton County (Atlanta). From 1917 to 1962, the elections in Georgia were decided by the County Unit system and South Georgia and other small counties had political clout.
The New Georgia Encyclopedia Web site on Government and Politics describes the County Unit system as working this way: “All 159 counties were classified according to population into one of three categories: urban, town, and rural. Urban counties were the eight most populous; town counties were the next 30 in population size; and rural counties constituted the remaining 121. Based upon this classification, each county received unit votes in statewide primaries. The urban counties received six unit votes each, the town counties received four unit votes each, and the rural counties received two unit votes each.”
Georgia at the time was ruled by the Democratic Party so all statewide elections were decided by the Primary, not the General Election.
Back to the Web site for explanation as to why Atlanta was not too happy over the process. “In the Democratic primary, candidates concerned themselves more with winning counties than with winning the popular vote and thus spent far more time campaigning in rural areas and small towns than in the state’s major cities. With a statewide total of 410 unit votes, a candidate needed 206 to win the party’s nomination, despite the outcome of the popular vote. If a candidate won a plurality of the popular vote in a county, he received the entire unit vote from that county, meaning that the votes of rural counties could easily equal, and effectively negate, the votes of urban counties. In many elections, candidates who received the majority of popular votes were defeated by candidates who carried the most county unit votes.
“Census data from 1960 illustrates the inequities of the county unit system. Although the rural counties accounted for only 32 percent of the state population by that year, they controlled 59 percent of the total unit vote. For example, the state’s three least populous counties, Echols, Glascock, and Quitman, had a combined population of 6,980, while Fulton County, the most populous, had a population of 556,326. Collectively, the three smallest counties had a unit vote that equaled the unit vote of Fulton.”
There was nothing fair about that, Atlanta advocates said, so attorneys headed to the court system. In April 1962, the unit system ended.
From the September Primary of that year until now, every vote is “given equal weight” instead of where you live.
Our Georgia House has one representative for every 45,000 people to fill the 180 seats in the House. As the number of people living in a county or area increases so does the representation. There are now 28 counties included in the area around Atlanta and, according to someone who should know, our 2010 Census will possibly take representation to one seat for every 55,000 people. Rep. Roger Lane, R-Darien, chairman of the Legislative and Congressional Reapportionment Committee, was quoted recently in the Brunswick News saying, “With the population shift, we know there are going to be more representatives north of the gnat line and fewer south of the gnat line.” (For those of you new to Georgia the gnat line is an imaginary line running across our state with Macon being the center.)
This begs the question, What happens to South Georgia? There are only 180 seats available in the Georgia House.
Will we have the population to keep three House representatives in Lowndes County? (Another reason for getting an accurate census count).
While I agree every vote should have “equal weight,” is it not also wrong to not give “equal weight” to our representation? When population shifts or growths cause one area or areas of the state to outweigh another, where’s the fairness. Just as the County Unit system allowed one area to have too much power over another area, our new district maps could put all of the control of our state in the hands of 28 counties without regard for the other 131. Fair?
Sandy Sanders is the publisher for The Valdosta Daily Times.
