County Unit System The 1917 Neil Primary Act established a county unit system for political primaries. At this time in Georgia, the Democratic Party was the only active political party in the state. This meant that the outcome of the primary elections and the general elections were usually the same. Under the county unit system, the winner of the popular vote in each county received the “unit” votes for that county. This system gave each county a given number of “units” based on the size of the population Smaller, rural areas had more voting units per person than the large urban areas.

Eight Most Populous Counties, 1920 Fulton County 232,606 Chatham County 100,032 Bibb County 71,304 Richmond County 63,692 Muscogee County 44,195 Dekalb County 44,051 Floyd County 39,841 Laurens County 39,605 Total Unit Votes 8 X 6 votes= 48units The next 30 counties had 4 county unit votes= 120 The remaining 121 counties had 2 county unit votes=242 **The 38 largest counties had 2/3 of Georgia’s voters, but The other 121 counties together could decide a state election.

Look at the table below and explain what is unfair about the county unit system.

Those Who Opposed the County Unit System Mostly urban citizens County Unit System concentrated political power in the hands of rural counties even though the population growth in GA was in the cities and urban areas. It allowed people to be elected to office without a majority of the state’s popular vote.

Those Who were in favor of the county unit vote The County Unit System was fair because it allowed the smaller and less populated counties to have the same power and influence as the larger counties