A judge on Wednesday ordered a halt to a special election initiated by residents of the one of the South’s last remaining Gullah-Geechee communities of Black descendants of enslaved people, who looked to voters to undo zoning changes that residents say threaten island homes.
Senior Judge Gary McCorvey’s ruling to stop the referendum came after hundreds had already voted early in coastal McIntosh County and barely a week before polls countywide were to open on the official election day Oct. 1.
The judge sided with McIntosh County’s elected commissioners seeking to cancel the election, ruling that Georgia’s constitution doesn’t allow citizens to challenge zoning ordinances by referendum. He dismissed arguments by attorneys for island residents that county officials had no legal standing to sue.
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