A judge on Tuesday approved a referendum sought by residents of one of the South’s last remaining Gullah-Geechee communities of slave descendants, ordering an Oct. 1 special election on whether to overturn zoning changes that Black residents see as a threat to an island enclave founded by enslaved ancestors.

McIntosh County Probate Court Judge Harold Webster said in his written order that local election officials have verified that referendum organizers had collected more than 1,800 petition signatures from the registered county voters, exceeding the 20% threshold required to put the issue on the ballot.

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