Members of the Georgia House and Senate Reapportionment Committees listened to recommendations from 29 citizens in Macon on their desires for redistricting Georgia’s Congressional, state and local voting districts, a process that takes place once every 10 years.
Augusta was once again represented with State Senator Harold Jones (D-Augusta) sitting with the committee. He also attended the July 28 meeting in Columbus.
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Augusta was to host one of the hearings on July 7, but it was postponed because of the threat of severe weather. It has been re-scheduled for August 30 at the Savannah Rapids Pavilion.
That location, which is near the Richmond and Columbia County line, brought forth concerns from Pichaya Poy Winichakul, a staff attorney for the Southern Poverty Law Center.
“Community members have raised concerns that the pathway from the parking lot into the venue (Savannah Rapids Pavilion) presents difficulties for those with an ambulatory disability,” she said. “Moreover, the venue is not on a bus line and there are limited transportation options to attend the hearing.”
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She said a petition was submitted to the committee recommending two alternative locations for the Augusta meeting, Augusta University’s Maxwell Theater on Walton Way or Augusta Technical College’s Information Technology Center on Augusta Tech Drive.
Committee members received cautionary advice in Macon from Cathy Cox, who served as Georgia’s Secretary of State from 1999 through 2007.
“I have the dubious distinction of having my name on the United States Supreme Court lawsuit Cox v. Larios, which the state of Georgia lost in 2004 following the 2001 reapportionment process. Georgia lost that case and that case has come to stand in the body of election law for one main principle, which was legislative overreach.” Cox said. “The court found that Democrats, trying to hold on to waning power, tried to draw districts that favored them, districts that packed incumbent Republicans together so they would have to run against each other and in doing so, they violated the “one-person, one-vote” rule.”
Mary Lou Ezell, president of the Macon chapter of the League of Women Voters, spoke about the Princeton Gerrymandering Project selecting Georgia’s redistricting process to monitor this year.
“They selected Georgia because we have such a sad history of gerrymandering for the last 20 years. Pretty sad comment to be selected for that reason, she said. “We’re not the only ones but it is so obvious when you see a district that runs up and down the whole state.”
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From the project’s website, “The Princeton Gerrymandering Project does nonpartisan analysis to understand and eliminate partisan gerrymandering at a state-by-state level.
Our interdisciplinary team aims to give activists and legislators the tools they need to detect offenses and craft bulletproof, bipartisan reform. Our analysis is published widely, and our work is used by legislators and reformers of all communities, without regard to partisan affiliation.”
MORE: One More Georgia Redistricting Town Hall Meeting is Completed
The final hearing this week will be on July 30 and is virtual participation only. Registration in advance is required to speak at this hearing. To sign up and register to speak, click here.
Citizens can also submit written comments here.
The hearing is from 5 and 7 p.m. It will be livestreamed at: https://www.legis.ga.gov/ and videos of each hearing are available there, as well.
Dana Lynn McIntyre is a Staff Reporter with The Augusta Press. You can reach her at dana@theaugustapress.com.
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