On August 11, 1975, the Thomasville Branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and six African-American citizens—Elijah Hill, Jr., Clarice A. Hobbs, Curtis Thomas, William A. Morris, Reverend I.L. Mullins, and Helen Clark—filed a class action suit in the United States District Court for the Middle District of Georgia, Thomasville Division, against the Board of Commissioners of Roads and Revenues for Thomas County. They asked the federal court to declare the county's at-large election system unconstitutional and to create a new single-member district reapportionment plan. The suit argued that the at-large system was discriminatory, denied the county's Black population access to the political process, and frustrated their right to full, unabridged, and undiluted participation in Thomas County's electoral process. Coupled with racial voting patterns, the county's at-large election requirements left Black citizens powerless to elect commissioners who could represent their interests. In 1983, Federal Judge J. Robert Elliott signed a consent order directing Thomas County to hold a special election on May 3, 1983, to elect a new slate of commissioners. Approved by the Georgia Legislature and signed by Governor Joe Frank Harris, the new plan created eight single-member districts, two with Black populations of approximately 73 percent and 85 percent. William "Bill" A. Morris and Elijah Hill, Jr. were elected to the Thomas County Board of Commissioners and served all Thomas County citizens.