Southwest Georgia’s Randolph County board of elections did the right thing to abandon the plan to close voting precincts. The county hit the national news when the Elections Board considered a plan to close 7 of 9 voting precincts and consolidate them into two. The proposed plan was a local decision made by a local election board based on a recommendation from a consultant.

When Secretary of State Brian Kemp, the Republican nominee for Governor, heard about the plan, he was the first elected official to speak out against it: “we strongly urged local officials to abandon this effort and focus on preparing for a secure, accessible, and fair election for voters this November.” State Representative Gerald Greene, a Republican, also opposed the plan. But it was Democrat nominee Stacey Abrams and the Georgia Democrat party who saw the opportunity to make it a racial issue and blamed Republicans for attempted voter suppression.

Democrats seized on the news and shrewdly spun it as a sinister plan of Republicans to suppress the black vote. Randolph County’s population is 61% black and it is one of the poorest counties in the nation.

Precincts Won By Donald Trump in Red

In politics, perception is reality and the spin, based on misrepresentation, achieved the goal of attracting media attention and promoting a message that Republicans are the enemy of black Georgians. The truth is that President Trump won 5 of the 7 precincts that were on the list to be closed and nearly half his votes came from those precincts.

The Randolph County Elections Board has two members, one black female and one white male. The consultant’s recommendation was based on locations not being compliant with the Americans for Disabilities Act. It would have also presumably saved the county money by having two polling places rather than nine.

County Attorney, Tommy Coleman, who at one time was the Executive Director of the Georgia Democratic Party, told a reporter from the Washington Post, “I’m quite sure the Board of Elections didn’t intend to disenfranchise any voters. . . . This morphed into something that wasn’t their intention.”

The consultant apparently looked at voting as if it were a merely a mechanical process that could be done more “efficiently.” The recommendation to close 7 precincts and consolidate into one was not based on racial considerations. In a way, it was even more insidious. It was based on a philosophy that views public administration as a science that only professionals can understand. It is a philosophy that creates one-size-fits-all templates while losing sight of the importance of individuals and communities.

Following an outcry from the entire community, the Elections Board met a second time and quickly reversed their decision. They also terminated the consultant who recommended the plan. They did the right thing.

A process to hold and manage fair elections is a basic function of American government. In rural areas the small precinct represents a community. The best government is the government that is closest to the people. These small precinct voting places in fire stations, community centers, churches, schools, and similar gathering places are not just a place to gather votes. They are places where the freedom to vote is an open display of our great nation making the basic decisions on how we the people will govern ourselves.

The volunteer fire station where a small number of people come to vote makes a powerful statement. The elderly farmer, retired school teacher, young married couple, and single mom with a toddler walking by her side, go to the polling place. There they see other people that they know. They know the polling worker who has worked that same polling place for years. They cast their votes for everything from county commissioner to President of the United States. They take that action right there in their own community.

The money spent to provide polling places closer to the people is well spent and should be a priority in the local government budgets. Some voting precincts will be in more densely populated areas and therefore have more voters. Some will be in sparsely populated areas and have fewer voters.

Voting places in communities serve a vital role. They stand as a living witness at every election of the liberty and freedom we have as Americans. In a very real way, those tiny precincts in rural areas remind us that we are a nation of the people, for the people, and by the people. Randolph County did the right thing. I hope that other counties who might be considering similar actions will pause and ask the people before they make such a move. I also hope that counties which may have already taken such measures, will go back and reconsider reopening the smaller precincts in the less populated parts of the county.

In the Randolph County case, Republicans and Democrats wholeheartedly agreed. It was the right thing to do.

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