Georgia has sued the federal government to force approval of state Republicans' plans to redraw legislative and congressional districts.
Gov. Nathan Deal and Attorney General Sam Olens on Thursday filed the federal lawsuit against the Department of Justice in Washington, D.C. But the state's Republican leaders will also seek a second path to approval next week when it plans to ask the Justice Department to pre-empt the lawsuit and approve the plans on its own.
"These plans were carefully drawn by the General Assembly to ensure that Georgia’s growing population is fairly represented," Deal and Olens said in a joint statement. "And we are confident that they meet the requirements for federal approval."
Georgia is one of nine states subject to the federal Voting Rights Act, which requires that any change in election law be approved either by the Justice Department or the D.C.-based federal court. The state's plan to redraw its state House, Senate and U.S. House maps must be approved before they can be put into effect for the 2012 elections.
Redistricting, or redrawing the state's legislative and congressional districts, happens at least once every 10 years after the release of data from the U.S. Census Bureau. It is hugely important to elected officials because a minor change in district lines has the potential to sway an election.
It is equally important to voters because it can increase or decrease their community's influence, depending how the lines are drawn.
Deal spokesman Brian Robinson said that if the Justice Department unilaterally approves the redistricting plan, the state will drop the lawsuit, which is something that other states, including Louisiana, Virginia and Alabama have also done.
Democrats said the state's proposed maps, approved along partisan lines in a special legislative session this summer, violate the Voting Rights Act and seek to "re-segregate" Georgia.
House Minority Leader Stacey Abrams, D-Atlanta, said it does not matter to her if the state went first to the Justice Department or to court.
Republicans' "violations of the Voting Rights Act ... regardless of the route they take, the end result will be one that rejects maps that re-segregate Georgia," she said.
Abrams said her party's hopes for the maps' rejection were bolstered recently by the Justice Department's decision to challenge Texas' redistricting plan and by a federal judge's decision in Alabama to reject a challenge of the constitutionality of the Voting Rights Act.
"If one takes the Alabama decision from the courts and the Texas decision by the Justice Department together, it's clear Georgia's maps will face some very strong challenges," she said.
This is the first redistricting process since Republicans took control of state government. With a Democratic president, Georgia Republicans' decision to go first to court is not a surprise. It's also not the first time the state choose that route. In 2001, then-ruling Democrats also bypassed the Republican-led Justice Department, although the move may not have helped much. The courts tossed out much of the Democrats' plan as being unconstitutional.
Kerwin Swint, a political scientist at Kennesaw State University and an expert on redistricting, said the federal government takes its role in redistricting seriously.
"Whether it's the courts or it's the Justice Department, it's going to get a rigorous review," said Swint, a former GOP consultant.
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