A judge on Wednesday ordered a halt to a special election initiated by residents of the one of the South's last remaining Gullah-Geechee communities of Black slave descendants, who were looking to voters to undo zoning changes that residents say threaten their island homes.

Senior Judge Gary McCorvey's ruling to stop the referendum came after hundreds had already voted early in coastal McIntosh County and less than a week before polls countywide were to open on the official election day Tuesday.