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Of the ten incorporated cities in Prince George's County, Greenbelt is one of three with at-large elections for council and mayor. (The others are District Heights and New Carrollton.) The remaining seven use combinations of districts and at-large voting. On 2008-02-28, the Maryland ACLU and Prince George's County NAACP sent a letter to the Greenbelt City Council claiming that Greenbelt's at-large system may violate section 2 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.[9] According to the letter, the 2000 Census indicated that African-Americans constituted 38% of Greenbelt's voting-age population, Asians 13%, and Latinos 6%. At the time, however, all members of the city council were white. The letter proposed that the city switch to single-winner district-based voting, cumulative voting, or choice voting, and indicated a lawsuit would follow if no reform were implemented.[10] While the city population is racially diverse, only two African Americans had run for Council in the 30 years preceding the 2009 election[11], one of whom had withdrawn before the election.[12] In June 2008, the United States Department of Justice opened an investigation into the city's election system.[13] In 2008, the city government hosted three public community meetings regarding election reform, in concert with the ACLU, NAACP, and FairVote.[14] Over 100 residents attended the forums, including one of the unsuccessful African American candidates, Jeanette Gordy, who said, "My concern is that people don’t get off their royal behinds. By going to meetings I got what I wanted and found out I had power as a citizen."[15] In 2009, the city implemented several election reforms with the goal of increasing diversity: increasing the city council from five to seven members, adding an additional precinct in Greenbelt East to shorten voter lines, and amending the city charter to allow early voting.[16] In the election held 2009-11-03, African American Emmett Jordan was chosen by 75% of voters,[8] electing him to the Council as Mayor Pro Tem, the second-highest city official.[17] Voter turnout increased from 1,898 to 2,399 voters (a 26% increase in ballots cast) from 2007 to 2009.[18]
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