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, 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 granted certiorari in this case despite having refused to hear previous challenges to the Unit System.
Read more about this topic: Gray V. Sanders
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