If it’s up to the voters, Lowndes County will soon expand to five voting commissioners and a non-voting commission chairman.

But it is the Department of Justice that will have the final say.

With only the military, absentee and provisional ballots outstanding Tuesday night, the referendum to expand the Lowndes County Commission won with 2,962 votes, or 64.36 percent, to 1,640, or 35.64 percent, against expansion.

“I’m very pleased with it,” Lowndes County Commission Chairman Ashley Paulk said of Tuesday’s election results. “This has been an issue for the past 12 to 14 years. The people have spoken. We still haven’t heard back from Justice, but we’ll send them these results and let them peruse them to show that two-thirds of the people are for it.”

Lowndes County first considered expanding from a three-member to a five-member commission in 1980. In the mid-1980s, during a statewide move to governmental districts, Lowndes opted for the current system of a four-member commission with three district commissioners and a non-voting chairman. Meanwhile, most surrounding counties with much smaller populations, opted for five or more commissioners.

Since the 1980s, Lowndes County’s population has grown to approximately 100,000 people. Under a system of three voting commissioners, each commissioner represents more than 33,000 people.

In the 1990s, a referendum failed two to one to expand the commission to six districts and a chairman.

In recent years, former Lowndes County Commission Chairman Rod Casey pushed the need to expand the commission. Putting the matter to a referendum vote became one of Paulk’s first successes as chairman earlier this year.

The expansion will split Lowndes County in half, creating east and west superdistricts overlapping the three existing districts.

Some critics of the plan believe the proposed superdistricts will not allow minorities the opportunity for fair representation. While a majority of voters may have disagreed with this criticism, it is now up to the Department of Justice to determine if the plan approved Tuesday meets the requirements of the federal Voting Rights Act of 1965.

If not, the whole process to expand the commission must begin again.