Back in the 1980's a federal judge ordered the county to hold single member district elections. That means people living in a particular district could only vote for county commission candidates running in their district.
The overall goal was to allow more representation for minority voters, but only one minority candidate has been elected since the judge's ruling.
Two years ago another federal judge lifted the single member district voting requirements for Washington County.
Carol Griffin is Washington County's Supervisor of Elections and says, "The courts saw that the minority population was very widespread in the county. It wasn't centralized and the court felt it was okay to lift the single district requirements and go back to the at-large voting system."
At large voting means everyone in the county gets to cast a ballot for each of the county commission districts.
Now, Franklin County, the Apalachicola area, and Calhoun County - Blountstown are the only two in this part of the state still under federal court orders to hold single member district elections.
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