Correspondence from Lani Guinier to Brenda Wagner Sumner
Correspondence
January 28, 1985

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Legal Department General, Lani Guinier Correspondence. Correspondence from Lani Guinier to Brenda Wagner Sumner, 1985. 29f3de61-e892-ee11-be37-6045bdeb8873. LDF Archives, Thurgood Marshall Institute. https://ldfrecollection.org/archives/archives-search/archives-item/9cf01ece-d5b6-4dab-9e46-9076841a3877/correspondence-from-lani-guinier-to-brenda-wagner-sumner. Accessed July 22, 2025.
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Lesa,EerenseH. January 28, 1985 Brenda Wagner Sumner, Esq. P. O. Box 6157 Rocky Mount, N. C. 27802 Dear Brenda: The lawsuit against the method of election for school board in Wilkes County, Georgia (press release attached) is very similar to the one we discussed in Halifax. I am very glad to have met you and to have had a chance to taIk. I will keep in touch. Lani Guinier LG/ X Enclosure bcc: Deborah Fins, Esq. LesIie Winner, Esq. Conlrihutions arr duluetiblc lor U.S. inront la.r pilrpos(s The NAACP LEGAL oEFENSE & EDUCATIoNAL FUND is not part of the National Association lor the Advancemenl of Colored People although it was tounded by it and shares its commitmenl to equal rights. LDF has had tor over 25 years a separale Board, prog ram, stall, otlice and budget NAACP LEGAL DEFENSE AND EDUCATIONAL FUND, INC. 99 Hudson Street, New York, N.Y. 10013o(212) 219'1900 @rpurtment fiUantire FOR II',IMEDIATE RELEASE THURSDAY, JANUARY IO, 1985 CR 202-633-20 19 The Departmerit of Justice filed civil suits today challenging election systems in Georgia and New Mexico as discriminatory against btack and Hispanic voters. Assistant Attorney General William Bradford Reynolds, head of the Departmentrs Civil Rights Division, said suits h,ere filed against the method of electing the Wilkes County, Georgia, Board of Education; the Chaves County, New I'lexico, Board of Commissioners; and the RosweIl, New Mexicor Independent SchooI District Board of Education. The wilkes county suit, which was filed in u.s. District Court in Augusta, Georgia, charged that the voting districts four members of the board of education are malapportioned on basis of population well in excess of constitutionally permissible limits. One district, which has a majority of black residents, contains a population of 5r171, compared with a mathematically ideal district size of 2,740. The suit said the malapportionment, which packs more than half of the countyrs black population into the one district, impermissible submerges the voting strength of btack citizens. for the (MORE ) 2- The suit also stated that the state and county have a long history of discrimination against black voters, the board of education has been unresponsive to the interests of blacks, and no black has ever been elected to a county oifi". in this century. The suit asked the court to declare that the malapportioned voLing system violates the Voting Rights Act, to enjoin use of the system in future elections, and to order officials to develop a constitutionally apportioned plan for the election of board of education members. The other suit, which vras filed in u.s. District court in AlbuquerQUe, New Mexico, charged that the use of at-large election systems for the Chaves County commissioners and the Roswell Board of Education results in Hispanic voters having less opportunity to seek public office and elect candidates of their choice. Under at-large election systems, voters from throughout the county or school district vote on all candidates, rather than by single-member district. Chaves County, which is 30.5 percent Hispanic, has three commissioners. Roswell, which has a 40.3 percent Hispanic school enrollment, has five school board members. The suit said the at-large system has discouraged Hispanics from seeking election to the board of county commissioners, and no Hispanic has ever been elected to an office that is selected on a county-wide or at-Iarge basis. ( MORE ) 3- The suit also noted that only one Hispanic has ever been elected to the school board, in 1981r although a number of Hispanics have sought election. The suit said the county commissioners and school board have been unresponsive and insensitive to the interests of the Hispanic community. If the commissioners and school board were elected from single-member districtsr Hispanics would be in a voting majority in some districts and would have a reasonable opportunity to elect candidates of their choice, the suit said. The suit asked the court to declare that the at-Iarge systems violate the Voting Rights Act, to enjoin their use in future elections, and to order officials to devise an election systern that meets the requirements of federal laur. **** DOIaruot T/ln*o /,,^ Phyllis McClu January 23, 1985 T0: Barry TeddY Lan:. Napoleon Note these 2 Votinq Rights cases school boards. req