The Augusta Commission’s redistricting subcommittee held its second meeting Tuesday and was joined by representatives from the Richmond County Board of Education and the legislative delegation.
Much of the meeting was a presentation from Executive Director Gina Wright of the Georgia Legislative and Congressional Reapportionment Office, who walked the committee members through the process of redistricting at the local level.
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The local group must follow the U.S. Constitution — including the equal protection clause in the 14th amendment — the Georgia constitution and sections of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
Wright also updated the committee on the possible timeline for when the U.S. Census Bureau will be able to provide final numbers for the 2020 census. She cautioned the delay in getting local numbers may mean locally-drawn maps will not be approved by the state legislature until the regular session beginning in January 2022.
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Richmond County Elections Director Lynn Bailey said, “This is something we’ve been aware of all along and one of the reasons we’ve made an effort to get ahead of it. To have our committee organized and provide education so when the district lines become available, we can jump right out of the gate.”
The timing is important because candidate qualifying begins March 7, 2022 for the general primary elections on May 24, 2022.
Tameka Allen, the county’s chief information officer, briefed the committee on her department’s web portal and transparency plan.
“This includes the maps and any other documents this ad hoc committee would like to share,” she said. “This site will also offer the ability for the public to provide feedback.”
Allen expects the web portal to be operational by the end of August.
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Commissioner Sean Frantom, who serves as chairman of the committee said, “It went really well. We had unanimous support for every vote that we had. It shows we kind of had the same mindset and goal to achieve for the citizens of Richmond County.”
The committee voted to schedule all future meetings on Wednesday and they will begin at 6 p.m. The next meeting will be August 11.
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They also voted to use the municipal building, the school district’s office and possibly some schools for future meetings. The committee approved having all meetings livestreamed to supplement in-person attendance.
In addition to the four Augusta Commission members, the committee has four school board members: Charlie Hannah, Helen Minchew, Venus Cain and Jimmy Atkins. The four members from the legislative delegation are state Senator Harold Jones and representatives Henry Wayne Howard, Dr. Mark Newton and Brian Prince.
Dana Lynn McIntyre is a Staff Reporter with The Augusta Press. You can reach her at dana@theaugustapress.com.
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