Residents Yet to Organize Concerning Bailout

In more than a week since Fredericksburg officials no group has yet stepped forward. City officials do say that they have heard from individuals, as well as representatives from regional NAACP chapters, through emails, letters and a series of well attended public meetings. 

Former Ward Four Councilor Hashmel Turner, current president of the Mayfield Civic Association, said that he has not yet heard of any groups forming around the issue of the bailout.

 Though no group has yet formed, city officials say that are open to all suggestions.

 "We would meet with any community group that should form," said City Attorney Kathleen Dooley last week.

 Ward Four Councilor Bea Paolucci, who represents many of Fredericksburg's black residents in the city's sole majority minority council ward, says that she has heard from many of her constituents regarding the proposed bailout.

"They have a lot of concerns," said Paolucci last week. "Their biggest concern is that if we start changing this, what else will they change?"

 The idea to form independent citizen advisory group for the bailout came out of a search for ways to more thoroughly involve minority communities in crafting a bailout agreement. Such an agreement can include provisions which go beyond the standard bailout provisions, which essentially puts the city on a 10 year probation for voting rights violations. If a city is found to violate voting rights in that span, the bailout could be pulled and the federal oversight re-instated. An amendment to a standard bailout could include, for instance, a requirement that minority community groups be notified in writing of future changes to election procedure. 

At the first public information meeting on the bailout held in January saw residents ask the city to form an advisory committee to help craft a bailout agreement. City leaders instead suggested that concerned residents form an independent citizen advisory group to make suggestions and air concerns about the bailout.

However, as an independent body, i.e. one not commissioned by the City Council, such a group would not have any official capacity to determine the shape of a bailout agreement. Instead, the group would be able to lobby members of the City Council and the Electoral Board for any changes or modifications to be included in a bailout agreement. City Manager Beverly Cameron says that, in the end, the City Council will be responsible for signing off on any amendments to a bailout agreement. 

City leaders will take up the issue during this Wednesday's meeting of the Electoral Board. It could be another two months before the bailout makes its way back to City Council for approval to be sent to the Department of Justice for consideration.

Under Section 5 of the 1965 Voting Rights Act, municipalities in states with a history of systematically suppressing minority voters are required to obtain the approval of the Department of Justice for any change to local voting procedures. Since 1982, cities have been able to opt out of the oversight requirements if they could show they had not attempted discriminatory electioneering in the past 10 years. Officials from the Department of Justice declined to appear at last night's meeting.

A locality subject to preclearance must get approval from the Department of Justice before any changes can be made to a wide list of elections activities. A locality may apply for a bailout from section 5 of the Voting Rights Act if it can show that it has not engaged in any discriminatory polling practices over the last 10 years. In order to apply, officials have to submit information on voter turnout, the racial makeup of the city's elected leadership, and poll worker training to the Department of Justice for review. If granted, a locality is then under a 10 year probationary period. In that time, if the locality commits a single discriminatory voting violation, then the preclearance bailout is revoked. If after 10 years the locality has remained in good standing with the Department of Justice, the locality is free from the preclearance requirements.