Editing Hancock County, Georgia (section)

==History==
Before the [[American Civil War|Civil War]], Hancock County was developed for cotton plantations, as international demand was high for the commodity. The land was developed and the cotton cultivated and processed by thousands of enslaved African Americans. This area is classified as part of the Black Belt of the United States, primarily due to its fertile soil. It was later also associated with the slave society. Enslaved persons made up 61% of the total county population in the [[1850 United States census|1850 Census]].<ref name="1850CensusGA">{{cite web | url=http://www2.census.gov/prod2/decennial/documents/1850a-15.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050124122327/http://www2.census.gov/prod2/decennial/documents/1850a-15.pdf |archive-date=January 24, 2005 |url-status=live | title=Census of 1850 | publisher=U.S. Census Bureau | access-date=August 1, 2016}}</ref> Unusually for such a plantation-dominated society, the county's representatives at the [[Georgia Secession Convention]], who were overwhelmingly white and Democratic, voted against secession in 1861.<ref name="GAEncyclopedia">{{cite encyclopedia | title=Hancock County | encyclopedia=New Georgia Encyclopedia | publisher=Georgia Humanities Council | author=Joslyn, Mauriel | year=2003}}</ref>

But the secession conventions were dominated by men who voted for separation, and Georgia soon seceded and entered the war.

After the war, the freed black population predominated by number in the county for decades. After emancipation and granting of citizenship and the franchise, most [[freedmen]] joined the Republican Party, which they credited with gaining their freedom. Conservative white Democrats resisted political domination by blacks, although they were outnumbered. In the later years of Reconstruction, whites used violence, intimidation and fraud to suppress black voting. In 1908 the white-dominated legislature passed an amendment that effectively [[Disenfranchisement after the Reconstruction era|disenfranchised most black voters]] and many poor whites ones.

===Contemporary voting issues===
According to the 2010 [[census]]<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.census.gov/popest/data/cities/totals/2015/SUB-EST2015.html|title=Annual Estimates of the Resident Population for Incorporated Places: April 1, 2010 to July 1, 2015|access-date=July 2, 2016|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://archive.today/20160602200744/http://www.census.gov/popest/data/cities/totals/2015/SUB-EST2015.html|archive-date=June 2, 2016}}</ref> estimate, the racial makeup of the county seat of [[Sparta, Georgia|Sparta]] was 84% African American, 15% White, 0.50% from two or more races, 0.30% Asian, and 0.10% Native American. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 0.70% of the population.

Since the late 20th century, most African Americans support the Democratic Party and conservative whites support the Republican Party.

In August 2015, the majority-white Hancock County Board of Elections initiated an effort to purge voters from the rolls. They directed deputy sheriffs to the homes of more than 180 black people residing in Sparta (these constituted some 20% of the city's total registered voters) to inform them they would lose their voting rights unless they appeared in court to prove their residency. A total of 53 voters were removed the voting rolls, but a federal judge overturned the Board's actions. It was asserted that these actions were racially based.<ref name="VoterPurgeNYTimes">{{cite news | url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/01/us/critics-see-efforts-to-purge-minorities-from-voter-rolls-in-new-elections-rules.html?_r=0 | title=Critics See Efforts by Counties and Towns to Purge Minority Voters From Rolls | work=The New York Times | date=July 31, 2016 | access-date=August 1, 2016}}</ref>

In 2021, the African-American elections superintendent for the City of Sparta was referred to the Georgia Secretary of State's Office for prosecution for allegedly imposing illegal requirements for candidates in the 2017 municipal election.<ref>[https://www.wrdw.com/2021/02/19/24-voting-violation-cases-sent-to-prosecutors-including-one-in-hancock-county/ "Voting violations cases sent to prosecutors, including one in Hancock County"], WRDW, February 19, 2021</ref>