ATLANTA (AP) - Advocacy groups say minority voters in a Georgia county can't elect local candidates of their choice because of unfairly drawn political district lines and they want a federal judge to order changes.
In a lawsuit filed Monday, the organizations argue the result is no successful minority candidates for the Gwinnett County Commission or Board of Education. The suit says nearly all districts for both boards are majority white, even though black, Latino and Asian-American residents made up 53.5 percent of the county's 2010 total population.
Gwinnett officials weren't immediately available to respond.
The lawsuit argues districts are drawn to split minority votes. The Washington-based Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law represents seven Gwinnett residents along with the Georgia NAACP and the Georgia Association of Latino Elected Officials.
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