Editing Chilton County, Alabama (section)

==Government==
The County Commission is made up of seven members elected by [[proportional voting|cumulative vote]] (CV). "Chilton County adopted cumulative voting in 1988 as part of the settlement of a vote dilution lawsuit brought against its previous election system. According to the 1990 Census, African Americans constituted 9.9% of the county's voting age population." Although passage of the [[Voting Rights Act of 1965]] enabled African Americans to register and vote, in Chilton County no African American was elected to the County Commission until the first cumulative voting election, held in 1988.<ref name="fair"/>

African Americans in Alabama had been essentially [[Disfranchisement after Reconstruction era|disenfranchised]] by the 1901 state constitution, which required payment of a [[poll tax (United States)|poll tax]] and qualification by a [[literacy test]] in order to register to vote. Discriminatory in practice as administered by white officials, this system excluded most blacks from the state's political system for decades in the 20th century before Congress passed the [[Voting Rights Act of 1965]]. After that, African Americans were able finally to register and vote in the county and state for the first time since the late 19th century.<ref name="fair">[http://archive.fairvote.org/?page=531 Jason Kirksey, Richard Engstrom and Edward Still, "Cumulative Voting in an Alabama County/ ''Shaw v. Reno'' and New Election Systems", "Chapter Three: Full Representation in Local Elections"], ''Voting and Democracy Report: 1995'', in ''Voting Rights Review'' of the Southern Regional Council, reprinted at FairVote website</ref>

In counties in which there is a minority population and members are elected [[at-large]] or by single-member districts, minorities may be unable to elect representatives in a system dominated by the majority. The adoption of cumulative voting in Chilton County has enabled the minority to elect candidates of their choice by pooling their votes. Bobby Agee was elected as a Chilton County Commissioner in 1988 and again in the second cumulative voting election in 1992.<ref name="fair"/> Cumulative voting depends on a multi-seat election, whether [[at-large]] or by district. "The cumulative options provide a minority of voters an opportunity to concentrate their support for a candidate or candidates more effectively than they can under the more traditional voting rules used in this country."<ref name="fair"/> In 2014, the county commission had an African-American commissioner among its seven members. However, in 2018, the county commissioners were all white males.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://chiltoncounty.org/commission/|title = Chilton County Commission}}</ref>

The commission hires a County Administrator to handle daily management of county business.

Chilton County is reliably Republican at the presidential level. The last Democrat to win the county in a presidential election is [[Jimmy Carter]], who won it by a majority in [[1976 United States presidential election in Alabama|1976]].
{{PresHead|place=Chilton County, Alabama|source=<ref name="DL">{{cite web|title=Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections|url=http://uselectionatlas.org/RESULTS/|access-date=November 16, 2016}}</ref>}}
<!-- PresRow should be {{PresRow|Year|Winning party|GOP vote #|Dem vote #|3rd party vote #|State}} -->
{{PresRow|2024|Republican|16,920|2,698|145|Alabama}}
{{PresRow|2020|Republican|16,085|3,073|152|Alabama}}
{{PresRow|2016|Republican|15,081|2,911|377|Alabama}}
{{PresRow|2012|Republican|13,932|3,397|156|Alabama}}
{{PresRow|2008|Republican|13,960|3,674|151|Alabama}}
{{PresRow|2004|Republican|12,829|3,778|86|Alabama}}
{{PresRow|2000|Republican|10,066|4,806|220|Alabama}}
{{PresRow|1996|Republican|7,910|5,354|1,014|Alabama}}
{{PresRow|1992|Republican|8,126|4,946|1,396|Alabama}}
{{PresRow|1988|Republican|8,761|3,820|42|Alabama}}
{{PresRow|1984|Republican|8,243|2,934|511|Alabama}}
{{PresRow|1980|Republican|6,615|4,706|156|Alabama}}
{{PresRow|1976|Democratic|4,725|5,550|110|Alabama}}
{{PresRow|1972|Republican|7,349|1,356|162|Alabama}}
{{PresRow|1968|American Independent|1,602|566|6,734|Alabama}}
{{PresRow|1964|Republican|5,202|0|1,645|Alabama}}
{{PresRow|1960|Republican|3,201|1,798|8|Alabama}}
{{PresRow|1956|Republican|3,139|1,891|118|Alabama}}
{{PresRow|1952|Republican|2,563|2,269|12|Alabama}}
{{PresRow|1948|Dixiecrat|1,584|0|1,985|Alabama}}
{{PresRow|1944|Democratic|1,385|1,984|7|Alabama}}
{{PresRow|1940|Democratic|1,995|2,746|10|Alabama}}
{{PresRow|1936|Democratic|1,469|2,565|21|Alabama}}
{{PresRow|1932|Democratic|1,532|1,664|57|Alabama}}
{{PresRow|1928|Republican|3,186|1,402|5|Alabama}}
{{PresRow|1924|Republican|1,595|848|81|Alabama}}
{{PresRow|1920|Republican|2,273|962|54|Alabama}}
{{PresRow|1916|Republican|1,363|881|54|Alabama}}
{{PresRow|1912|Progressive|140|880|1,226|Alabama}}
{{PresRow|1908|Republican|890|656|76|Alabama}}
{{PresRow|1904|Democratic|648|738|271|Alabama}}
{{PresRow|1900|Republican|791|469|52|Alabama}}
{{PresRow|1896|Democratic|310|1,131|74|Alabama}}
{{PresRow|1892|Populist|121|648|902|Alabama}}
{{PresRow|1888|Democratic|437|1,101|0|Alabama}}
{{PresRow|1884|Democratic|295|841|0|Alabama}}
{{PresRow|1880|Democratic|131|713|0|Alabama}}
{{PresRow|1876|Democratic|151|728|0|Alabama}}
{{PresRow|1872|Democratic|237|475|0|Alabama}}
{{PresFoot|1868|Democratic|283|676|0|Alabama}}