Several Black voters and local organizations filed a lawsuit in federal district court in Baltimore under the landmark Voting Rights Act of 1965 challenging the at-large component of the election system for the Wicomico County Council and Board of Education.
The lawsuit calls the election system racially discriminatory and unlawful, which dilutes the votes of Black residents and limits fair representation. The action comes against the backdrop of a long history and legacy of racial discrimination and oppression in Wicomico County and across Maryland’s Eastern Shore.
The Wicomico County Branch of the NAACP, the Caucus of African American Leaders, and the Watchmen With One Voice Ministerial Alliance, join with individual voters Dr. Eddie Boyd, Luc Angelot, Amber Green, and Monica Brooks in charging that the County’s resistance to enacting fair election plans has denied the right of Black residents to vote free from discrimination and to fair representation in their government for far too long.
Together, they ask the court to declare the current election system unlawful, and require the County and School Board to create a fair system that complies with the Voting Rights Act.
