Political Map Redraw Not Open to Dems, Blacks, says State Senator

For the first time in anyone's living memory, the GOP is in charge of Georgia's government when the state Legislature must redraw political districts for congressional, state, county, city and board of education offices. Top Republicans speaking at Georgia Tech said they mean to have a fair, open redraw.  Midtown Democrat state Sen. Vincent Fort is skeptical.

"This process has not been open and transparent," Fort said at a public hearing held by the Georgia House and Senate reapportionment committees, hosted at Georgia Tech on June 30. "Democrats and African-Americans have not been included in the process," he said, for example on the format of the hearing and its Midtown location. The public was invited to give comment, but legislators took no questions.

A legislative Joint Reapportionment Office is matching 2010 census data to maps and drafting boundaries for new districts. Last time, in 2000, staff from the Carl Vinson Institute of Government at the University of Georgia drew the proposals. This time, the majority GOP decided to hand the job to the newly-created office and its newly-appointed staff.

Fort also lambasted an idea to unite Buckhead and Sandy Springs in a single state Senate district. Several residents of those areas pushed the idea during the meeting. But Fort suggested partitioning the redder — and secession-leaning — parts of the county from the rest could result in the "Balkanization" of Fulton County.

Fort's 39th district, like the adjacent 38th, is a long, narrow one that reaches from the southside all the way into Buckhead.

Republican Roger Lane of Darien is the lead House member on his Reapportionment Committee and said his process will be better than 2000. During the Georgia Tech hearing, he declared, "for maybe the first time … maps will be available to the public before we go into special session [for approval]," but added, with emphasis, "hopefully."

The state Legislature is expected to convene on Aug. 15 to start a special session of debate on new draft maps. That job only comes up every ten years, when new census numbers indicate population shifts that might require geographically larger or smaller districts.

The Legislature will stay at work until they vote approval of maps.

After that, the federal government must also approve the maps, either via the U.S. Department of Justice or the U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C.  That's because Georgia falls under terms of the 1965 U.S. Voting Rights Act. That Act requires a federal double-check for fairness to minority communities in states which have a history of disenfranchising minority voters by gerrymandering or other tricks.

Midtown's state and congressional election districts went solidly Democrat in 2010, either by large margins or complete walk-over. Votes get redder toward Buckhead.

Last time, due to court challenges, maps based on the 2000 census did not get full approval until 2004.