Elected commissioners of a Georgia county who rolled back development restrictions protecting one of the South’s last Gullah-Geechee communities of Black slave descendants asked a judge Friday to stop an Oct. 1 referendum that gives voters a chance to overturn those changes.
More than 600 voters in coastal McIntosh County have already cast ballots in the special election since early voting began Sept. 9. But voting could come to a sudden stop if Senior Judge Gary McCorvey agrees with commissioners that Georgia’s constitution doesn’t allow voters to override local zoning ordinances.
Ken Jerrard, an attorney for the county officials, asked the judge at a Friday hearing to “save McIntosh County from being forced to fund an illegal election.”
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