Across the Chesapeake Bay in Baltimore, federal judge Joseph H. Young had ordered the Worcester County Commissioners to replace their old, racially exclusive election system with cumulative voting. The ruling came in a lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union and brought to the brink of reality a centuries-old dream of the County's African American community to elect candidates of their choice. The case also marked the first time any court had ordered cumulative voting implemented as a remedy under the Voting Rights Act, drawing national attention to the case. One could scarcely imagine a less likely place than Worcester County for cutting-edge electoral reform. Best known to the outside world as the home of the Ocean City beach resort, Worcester remains to its African American citizens a sleepy backwater, clinging to old-fashioned ways.
Whites live in a world of power and privilege, blacks in another world entirely.
The Court then directed the County to propose a new plan to remedy the vote dilution violation. The Commissioners balked at the Court's directive. The County objected to both of the plaintiffs' proposals, telling Judge Young that the only system acceptable to Worcester County was its existing at-large election system. The Court considered all three proposals, and rejected the defendants' plan as racially discriminatory. Both of the plaintiffs' plans were legally acceptable, Young found.