NATION : U.S. Sues Georgia, Says Runoff Elections Biased Against Blacks
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WASHINGTON — The Justice Department filed suit under the Voting Rights Act today challenging Georgia’s runoff election system that requires candidates to receive a majority of the vote to win an election.
The law, similar to legislation in eight other Southern states, gives “white candidates an extraordinary power,” said John R. Dunne, assistant U.S. attorney general for civil rights.
The law has stymied black candidates who may win the most votes in a three-way race with two white candidates but can’t gain a majority in the ensuing two-way runoff.
Dunne said the law has had “a demonstratively chilling effect on the intent and willingness of blacks to become candidates for office” across the South.
The other states with similar runoff systems are Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Mississippi, South Carolina and Texas.
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