The system was ostensibly designed to function similarly to the Electoral College, and so in practice the large ratio of unit votes for small, rural counties to unit votes for more populous urban areas provided outsized political influence to the smaller counties.
For at least the final two decades the system was in use, a majority of statewide unit votes were controlled by counties that, collectively, had less than one-third of the state's total population.
This also gave rise to kingmakers such as Roy V. Harris, who were known for their ability to deliver the unit votes of many rural counties.
James H. Gray, the chairman of the State Executive Committee of the Democratic Party, was one of the defendants named in the suit.
Judge Griffin Bell ruled in Sanders' favor, issuing an injunction against using the system just months before the 1962 gubernatorial primary.
In the majority opinion, Justice William O. Douglas wrote, "The concept of political equality ... can mean only one thing—one person, one vote."
[12] Due to the court's injunction of the county unit system in 1962, that year's Democratic gubernatorial primary was the first to be decided by popular vote since 1908.
Following the 1963 Gray v. Sanders decision, the Georgia Legislature had the option to redesign the county unit system to meet the new "one person, one vote" standard.