A “compromise” bill that would dramatically change the way Fayette County Commission members are elected could be voted on by the Georgia House of Representatives later this week, officials said.

The compromise, however, wasn’t enough to convince Republicans Rep. Dan Lakly of Peachtree City nor Rep. John Yates of Griffin to sign onto the bill, which is sponsored by Democrats Reps. Virgil Fludd, Roberta Abdul-Salaam and Daryl Jordan, none of whom live in Fayette County.

The latest version of House Bill 856 would require three of the five county commission seats to be determined by voters who live in a specially-created geographic district. Under the proposal, the two other seats would remain at-large, meaning that every voter in the county can cast a ballot in those races.

Currently, all five county commissioners are selected at-large. The original version of the bill, which stalled last year, called for all five commission seats to be selected on a district basis.

If approved by the House, the bill is likely to be killed in the Senate, because unanimous consent of the local delegation is required for a Senate vote on local legislation, and Sen. Ronnie Chance of Tyrone is opposed to the bill.

Chance said Tuesday afternoon that he has gotten a large amount of input from voters, and the “overwhelming majority” of them are opposed to the district voting measure.

“There’s just not the local support for it,” Chance said, noting that in addition to a large amount of phone calls and e-mails, he has also heard from elected officials in Peachtree City, Fayetteville, Tyrone and Brooks who oppose the bill. Additionally, the county commission passed a resolution against the district voting proposal last year and they are slated to vote soon on a similar resolution.

The bill would also have to be approved by Sen. Valencia Seay (D-Riverdale). But it would first go to the appropriate Senate committee for consideration before Chance and Seay would be required to sign off on the measure.

Proponents of the bill say it increases the chances of a minority or a Democratic candidate being elected, particularly given the increase in African-Americans that have moved to the north Fayette County area in recent years.

House rules do not require that a local delegation be unanimous before the entire body can vote on a particular measure; for that purpose, only a simple majority is needed.

Despite the Fayette delegation’s split on the bill, it is likely to be approved by the House because traditionally local legislation is approved with little to no opposition once it passes the appropriate House committee.

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