ABSTRACT

William Bradford Reynolds charted the course for the Reagan administration on voting rights. Yet another instance of Reynolds's alleged insensitivity to voting rights occurred in Burke County, Georgia. Burke County was not the only case where critics found fault with Reynolds. Controversy also arose in Alabama, where the white mayor of Montgomery, Emory Folmar, developed a plan that reduced the proportion of blacks who lived in the district of a black political enemy, councilman Joe Reed. One occurred in Mississippi, another in New York City, and yet others in several state legislatures that were reapportioned after the 1980 census. In 1975 the Alabama legislature had provided that the Greene County Racing Commission should consist of three members appointed by the legislative delegation that represented Greene County in the House and Senate of Alabama. Reynolds received a good deal of publicity for his refusal to approve the boundaries for Mississippi's congressional districts and New York's councilmanic districts.