Lawmakers approved the last of Georgia's new political maps Wednesday, ending a special redistricting session with Republicans having consolidated power across the state.
The new maps, which include 14 new congressional districts and redrawn legislative districts for both the state House and Senate, must now be vetted by federal officials. They could also face a court challenge, with Democrats having already sketched out a legal argument against the new maps' GOP-friendly changes. At least one expert said it would be a difficult argument to win.
In addition to redistricting, lawmakers during the session agreed to suspend until year's end an increase in Georgia's gas tax. An effort to change the date of next year's transportation sales tax referendums, however, failed. Lawmakers next convene in January for their regular legislative session.
By then, the new political maps may or may not be final.
The Voting Rights Act requires Georgia and eight other states to get approval from the Justice Department, or federal courts, for all changes to voting and election laws. Those states are singled out because each has a history of discrimination that hindered voting by minorities.
After the 2000 census, Democrats controlled the state House, Senate and governor's office, and a Republican was in the White House. Democratic Gov. Roy Barnes and Democratic Attorney General Thurbert Baker went straight to the federal court to get their maps approved, bypassing the U.S. Justice Department under Republican President George W. Bush.
It took nearly two years before that redistricting process for Georgia was settled in a federal court.
Now, Republicans control Georgia and a Democrat is president. Regardless, Gov. Nathan Deal, a Republican, said earlier this month that Georgia this time will file the new maps with President Barack Obama's Justice Department, which can issue a ruling in as little as 60 days. The submission would be done before Oct. 1. Republican state Attorney General Sam Olens declined this week to confirm Deal's assertion but said he would address the issue as soon as next week.
"What that tells me is that they are so confident with what they’ve done ... on the verge of being cocky," said Kerwin Swint, a Kennesaw State University political scientist and an expert on redistricting. “If the Department of Justice looks at it and approves it, I think that’s pretty much going to end it.”
The Senate voted 34-21 strictly along party lines Wednesday to approve a congressional map that adds one House seat to reflect Georgia's increase in population. Members of the state House approved the map last week. With Republican majorities in both chambers leading the way, the new congressional map likely boosts the state GOP's margin in the U.S. House to 10-4, up from the current 8-5 advantage.
Deal signed into law last week new maps for the 180 state House districts and 56 Senate districts. Changes for those maps show that Republicans could achieve two-thirds majorities in both chambers in November 2012 -- enough to pass constitutional amendments without Democratic interference.
Since the special session began Aug. 15, Republicans have stressed that their proposals are fair and legal and are an improvement over the Democratic-led processes of the past.
Democrats, meanwhile, accused Republicans of using their power to diminish Democratic voting strength.
In the Senate on Wednesday, Sen. Jason Carter, D-Decatur, said he believes Republicans simply "don't want to follow the Voting Rights Act."
"They want to change the Voting Rights Act because they don't like the result," he said. "You want to turn the Voting Rights Act on its head."
Democrats also accused Republicans of "packing" the maps, a term that means they tried to cram as many like-minded voters into as few districts as possible in an attempt to dilute their overall voting strength.
But Republicans maintained, as they have the past two weeks, that they are explicitly following the law.
"Courts have told us exactly when it comes to this matter how to comply with the law," said Sen. Mitch Seabaugh, R-Sharpsburg, the chairman of the Senate redistricting committee.
In the House, where lawmakers spent most of the day lounging and waiting for the Senate, Speaker David Ralston, R-Blue Ridge, said he believes this redistricting session was the shortest ever and that the end result was a good one.
"We made a priority of following the the guidelines of federal law," he said. "The process and the product will pass constitutional muster."
Charles Bullock, a University of Georgia political scientist and expert on redistricting, was not sure the Democrats' arguments would hold up under review. According to Republicans, there are no changes in the number of "majority-minority" House districts in the new maps, while they added an additional majority-minority district for both the Senate and the congressional delegation.
"It's going to be awfully hard for anyone to attack the plan on retrogression," Bullock said. "The Department of Justice -- the only mandate it has is to assure minorities are not left worse off than the status quo."
Redistricting, the next steps
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution has been covering the Legislature special session on redistricting from start to finish. Today, with the closing of the session, we take a look at the steps ahead in the redistricting process, the hurdles it must clear and its potential impact on Georgia's political scene for the next 10 years.
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