Gray v. Sanders Totally Explained

Everything about Gray V Sanders totally explained

Gray v. Sanders, 372 U.S. 368 (1963), was a Supreme Court of the United States dealing with voting and equal representation.

Background

James Sanders, a voter in Fulton County, Georgia, brought a lawsuit which challenged the legality of the County Unit System. James H. Gray, the chairman of the State Executive Committee of the Democratic Party, was one of the named defendants as the suit focused on the Democratic party primary elections which usually determined the selection of Georgia officeholders.
Sanders argued that the County Unit System gave unequal voting power to smaller counties. Rural counties which accounted for one-third of Georgia's population also accounted for a majority of County Unit votes. Fulton County had 14.11% of Georgia's population at that time, but only 1.46% (6 unit votes) of the 410 Unit Votes. Echols County, Georgia, the smallest county in Georgia at the time, had 938 people or .05% of the state's population and .48% (1 unit vote) of the unit system. The system managed to give votes to Fulton county at a proportion of one-tenth the county population while giving Echols county a vote which was 10 times the population of the county.
The Supreme Court had refused to hear previous challenges to the Unit System, but after the Baker v. Carr decision, the court chose to hear this case.

The Court's decision

By a vote of 8 to 1, the court struck down the County Unit System. Justice William O. Douglas wrote the majority opinion and said "The concept of political equality...can mean only one thing--one person, one vote". The court found that the separation of voters in the same election into different classes was a violation of the 14th Amendment's guarantee of equal protection. Justice John Marshall Harlan II dissented, suggesting that the case be sent back for retrial for an investigation into the constitutional requirements for legislative districts.

Aftermath

Georgia had the option of modifying the county unit system to make it more equal, but instead the state decided to move to using the popular vote in primary elections.

Further Information

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