Members of the House and Senate Redistricting Committees were in Columbus to hear from residents giving advice on how to accomplish the redistricting process that takes place once every 10 years.
Augusta was represented at the Columbus session with state Senator Harold Jones (D-Augusta) attending.
There was also an update on the Augusta meeting that had been postponed on July 7. It has been rescheduled for Monday, August 30 at the Savannah Rapids Pavilion from 5 to 7 p.m.
Committee members heard from 21 residents at the Columbus hearing; 12 men, nine women, 11 people of color and 10 Caucasian.
The concerns of rural Georgia, highlighted in the previous meeting in Albany, continued during the Wednesday night hearing.
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Among those commenting was Mayor Kevin Brown of Buena Vista, Ga.
“We really want to ensure that, as you are re-drawing our maps, that you will consider our rural communities and some of the challenges we face, he said. “In Marion County, we have over 149 miles of dirt roads. Broadband is a foreign term in our community. Health care. It takes us about 45 miles to get to the nearest hospital. As you’re drawing these lines, we really want you to consider the representatives who will be the voice for our rural communities and ensure that we have an active voice at the table.”
Teddy Reese of Columbus, who commented to the committee during the virtual hearing on June 28, echoed Mayor Brown’s concerns for the 2nd Congressional District.
“We need to keep that rural unity of this district so that Georgians that feel forgotten, those that feel that their representatives don’t know how to drive outside of the (Interstate) 285 bubble, will know that somebody’s listening,” he said. “I’m also asking you to release any draft maps as soon as possible with the designation that it is a draft. At least this method, that attempt at transparency, will be there for everyone.”
Senator John Kennedy (R-Macon) said they still don’t know when a special session of the legislature will be called to vote on new maps as they are still waiting updated census numbers.
Representative Bonnie Rich (R-Suwanee) said the census bureau expects to release some preliminary data by mid-August, but the final data needed to draw the maps will not be released until September 30.
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The timing is important because candidate qualifying begins March 7, 2022 for the general primary elections on May 24, 2022.
There will be one final in-person meeting this week in Macon on July 29 in the Mercer School of Medicine.
Members of the public who wish to speak can sign up starting at 4:30 p.m. outside the meeting location. Speakers are asked to keep their comments to between two and five minutes.
The final hearing this week will be virtual participation only. It is scheduled for July 30. You will be able to speak at this hearing but must registration in advance. To sign up and register to speak, click here.
Citizens can also submit written comments here.
Both of those hearings are from 5 and 7 p.m. They are 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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