Georgians voted three to one on Tuesday to keep the year-old state flag, seeking in a nonbinding referendum to lay to rest a race-tinged issue that has roiled the state for years.

The winning flag has been flying since the Legislature adopted it last year. It is based on older Georgia flags and the first official flag of the Confederacy, the Stars and Bars, but avoids the X on a red background associated with the Confederate battle flag, which was in a flag adopted by the Legislature in 1956.

The flag rejected Tuesday bore a miniature of the battle flag, as well as miniatures of two American flags and two earlier Georgia flags and the state seal displayed prominently on a field of blue. It replaced the 1956 flag in 2001 after an acrimonious debate, but did not satisfy many Georgians and lasted only until last year.

Many blacks viewed the 1956 flag as racist; many whites saw it as a symbol of the South's heritage.

While the vote was not binding, legislators have expressed little appetite for continuing the fight.