ATLANTA—Amid a national movement to open the redistricting process for citizen participation, Georgia Democrats charge that the Republican-led Legislature’s planned redistricting will have a racially discriminatory effect. In late December, the Department of Justice cleared plans to redistrict Georgia. Because of population growth measured in the 2010 census, Georgia will gain a congressional seat, taking it from 13 to 14 national congressional districts.
Georgia is one of 16 states required in whole or in part to get federal approval for electoral changes under Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. States or smaller entities with a history of voter discrimination are still legally under federal supervision.
From voter ID laws to redistricting, any changes must be reviewed by the Department of Justice before they take effect. Even if changes were not intended to discriminate, the states, counties, or towns must prove that changes do not have the effect of discriminating on the basis of race, language, or national origin.
Citizen participation is focusing on using software and contests such as DistrictBuilder and FixPhillyDistricts. Georgia went the opposite way, keeping the planning process inside the state Capitol building. The new maps were already drawn before they were made available for public comment.
A nonpartisan group asked the legislators to reconsider.
“Redistricting is an absolutely critical issue in the South, however, and for the growing immigrant populations will determine whether we truly will have a say in policymaking moving forward,” said Helen Kim Ho, Esq., executive director, Asian American Legal Advocacy Center, Inc. (AALAC) of Georgia, in an email.
She said Asian-Americans are such a small minority in Georgia that they cannot yet have much influence on policymaking or on mapping legislative districts. Ho expects that to change in the coming decade, and her group is working to educate Asian-Americans about participating in the political process.
In Georgia v. Holder, the state asked either for pre-clearance of the new districts or for the Section 5 requirement to be declared unconstitutional. The case was dismissed on Jan. 3 after Attorney General Eric Holder gave Georgia pre-clearance.
Assistant Attorney General Thomas Perez wrote in a letter to Georgia Attorney General Sam Olens that while the department had no objection to the proposed changes, “the failure of the attorney general to object does not bar subsequent litigation to enjoin the enforcement of the changes.”
Democrats are expected to file a lawsuit over the changes. They say that the new boundaries will ensure that no Georgia Democrats in Congress or in the state house will be white. Republicans filed suit against plans drawn by the Democratic majority during the previous decade, but not immediately following the census. The courts required the maps to be altered.
The new maps affect some long-term representatives. U.S. Rep. John Barrow is the only white Democrat from the Deep South, according to Jim Galloway of the AJC, and his 12th District was redrawn so that he will have to move from his home in Savannah to inland Augusta. Previously his district was redrawn so that he had to move from Athens to Savannah.
