Friday March 29th, 2024 5:50AM

Federal judge tosses out voting rights lawsuit against Gwinnett County

By AccessWDUN Staff
A federal judge has dismissed a voting rights lawsuit against Gwinnett County.
 
The suit had claimed the county diluted minority influence in local elections when it redrew districts for the county commission and the school board in 2011.
 
According to a report in the Atlanta Journal Constitution newspaper, Gwinnett County spent more than $1 million fighting the lawsuit, which was filed in August 2016 by the Georgia NAACP, the Georgia Association of Latino Elected Officials (GALEO) and some individual voters in Gwinnett County.
 
At the time the lawsuit was filed, Gwinnett County had never had a non-white candidate elected to either the county commission or the county school board. The first people of color elected to office on the local boards were just elected in November 2018. Marlene Fosque and Ben Ku were elected to serve on the Gwinnett County Commission - Fosque is black and Ku is of Asian descent. Everton Blair., Jr. - who is black - was elected to the Gwinnett County School Board. 
 
U.S. District Judge Amy Totenberg granted a joint motion to dismiss the suit this week. 
  • Associated Categories: Homepage, Local/State News, Politics
  • Associated Tags: Gwinnett County, Voting, lawsuit, minority voting
© Copyright 2024 AccessWDUN.com
All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed without permission.