Fortson v. Dorsey

Background

Registered Georgia voters sued the Secretary of State and local election officials after the State’s 1962 plan divided the 54-seat State Senate among the State’s 159 counties. The plan drew 54 senatorial districts along county lines. Thirty-three districts (covering 152 counties) elect a senator by district-wide vote. The remaining 21 districts lie inside the seven most populous counties and those counties elect all their senators by a county-wide vote instead of by each small district. The voters argued that county-wide voting denied residents in those smaller districts an equal vote under the Fourteenth Amendment.

Reasoning

A three-judge federal court granted summary judgment for the voters, but the Supreme Court reversed. The majority relied on an earlier decision saying a State may use some multi-member or county-wide arrangements so long as districts show substantial equality of population. The Court found no mathematical inequality among the 54 districts and said county-wide voting does not, on its face, make a voter’s ballot unequal in weight. The opinion noted that a senator from a multi-district county represents the whole county and that the record contained no proof Georgia adopted the county-wide method to dilute minority votes.

Real world impact

Because the Court reversed, Georgia’s county-wide elections for multi-member Senate seats may stand unless challengers prove the system actually cancels or minimizes a group’s voting strength. Voters in large counties may cast ballots for multiple state senators under this plan. The decision leaves open future challenges if concrete proof shows racial or political vote dilution.

Dissents or concurrances

Justice Harlan joined the Court’s judgment but reserved on relying only on arithmetic. Justice Douglas dissented, arguing county-wide voting lets voters from other districts defeat a district’s unanimous choice and is discriminatory.