ATLANTA — Georgia lawmakers will begin a special session Nov. 29 to redraw district lines so they adhere to a recent court order.
U.S. District Judge Steve Jones ruled Oct. 26 that the state’s congressional, House and Senate districts approved in 2021 by the Republican-controlled legislature violate Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act by limiting Black voters’ equal opportunity to elect a candidate of their choice.
The state legislature was given a Dec. 8 court-ordered deadline to redraw the districts and was ordered to add majority-Black districts for a U.S. House district, two state Senate districts, and five House districts in the Atlanta and Macon areas where Black populations grew significantly since the 2010 census.
“This process means a shift in the political makeup of Georgia’s congressional delegation and at the Gold Dome is possible because Black voters tend to vote Democratic,” said Ga. House Rep. Saira Draper (D-Atlanta).
CNHI reached out to Republican redistricting committee leaders for comment and insight into plans for the special session on redistricting, but did not hear back.
Mercer University political science professor Chris Grant, who specializes in electoral politics, said he expects Republicans to pack voters in districts as much as legally possibly by arguing against splitting counties or communities for new district lines.
“And when you’re maximizing a group, as opposed to a party, you oftentimes have to do that because you have to concentrate,” Grant said. “You’re in essence packing voters in a way because you’re trying to get a concentrated effect of minority representation. So there’s gonna be some interesting shapes, I have no doubt.”
Keeping counties and cities together often benefits Republicans more, he said.
“Especially in the rural and suburban areas, [it] has been to the benefit of Republicans having larger representation shares. Whereas for Democrats, with people that tend to vote Democratic, do not tend to live as spread out as people who vote for the Republicans,” Grant said. “(In rural areas) there’s broader expanses of land, so maps look cleaner and prettier.”
The new maps are expected to help give Democrats a majority in the U.S. House in 2024, and narrow the Republican majority in state districts.
Currently, nine Republicans and five Democrats hold congressional seats in Georgia. The GOP currently holds a 102-78 (or a 24-seat majority) in the state House and a 10-seat majority (33-23) in the state Senate.
The new districts come as the 2020 Census showed that between 2010 and 2020, Georgia’s total population increased by more than 1 million people, to more than 10.7 million — all of it in the minority population.
The Black population increased by nearly 500,000 people since 2010, accounting for 47.46% of the state’s growth rate, while Georgia’s white population decreased by 51,764 people and made up 50.06% of Georgia’s population in 2020.
Earlier this year, an Alabama federal court, and the U.S. Supreme Court agreed that Alabama did not provide opportunities for Black voters to elect candidates of their choice in its its seven U.S. House districts where only one district was majority Black.
U.S. Census data in 2020 showed that Blacks made up 27% of the state’s population and judges said there should be an additional an additional majority-Black district, or an additional “opportunity district,” where Black Alabama voters have an opportunity to elect a candidate of their choice.
In redrawing the map, the Republican-led legislature defied court orders and instead increased the Black voting age population from 30.6% to 40% in a second district, not near the 50% mark as expected. Subsequently, the court appointed a special master to redraw the districts and a new map has now been approved.
“(The Alabama legislature) was blatant in its disregard for the interest of minority voters in Alabama,” Grant said. “And you can look at any exit polling in Alabama, and the split between white and Black voters are more profound than in most other places. Even Georgia doesn’t have the profundity of the racial and partisan alignment that Alabama does.”
The Georgia court order suggests that a new majority-Black district be added in west metro Atlanta in the area of Cobb, Douglas, Fayette and Fulton counties — an area that saw the largest population growth, and a majority of that among Black residents.
Portions of the area are currently represented by Republicans Barry Loudermilk, (R-Woodstock), Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Rome) and Democrat David Scott (D-Atlanta). The two Republican districts represent only a small portion of west Atlanta as their districts stretch to northern parts of Georgia.
During the special session, lawmakers will also focus on adhering to other court orders:
• Two additional majority-Black Senate districts in south-metro Atlanta. The focus areas are in and around Henry, Rockdale and Spaulding counties.
• Two additional majority-Black House districts in south-metro Atlanta. The focus areas are in and around DeKalb, Henry, Newton, Rockdale and Clayton counties.
• One additional majority-Black House district in west metro-Atlanta. The focus areas are in and Coweta, Douglas, Fayette and Fulton.
• Two additional majority-Black House districts in and around Macon-Bibb. Plaintiff maps indicate opportunities for new majority-Black House districts could be areas bordering northeast Macon and southwest Macon.
Georgia-based voting rights group Fair Fight Action has called on lawmakers to be transparent in the redistricting process.
“Fair Fight Action is calling on legislators to conduct the work in public, allow Georgians time to review and provide input on the maps, and end gerrymandering that disadvantages minority voters,” the group said in a statement Nov. 15.
Draper said she has called on Republican leaders to release new proposed maps with time for Democrats and the public to review them and provide feedback.
“Republicans have not yet released the new maps that we will have to vote on during the special session,” Draper said. “Whether they will be open, transparent, and receptive to feedback during this redistricting process is to be seen.”
Once final maps are approved in court, they will be used in 2024 and subsequent elections until the next redistricting cycle in 2031.
