Voting in elections for the candidates of our choice defines us as responsible citizens in a democratic republic. It’s a big part of our legacy as Americans. Shouldn’t the voting of the electorate be enough to sustain a “government of the people,” to which Abraham Lincoln alluded in the closing lines of his Gettysburg Address?
But then along comes the mandated federal census every 10 years and “upsets the apple cart” by counting people state by state down to the block level. It should be a simple task to change the numbers in each district — plus or minus — and redraw the map in a tidy way. While it may seem a mundane task to a lot of us, the redistricting exercise brings with it tremendous opportunities for creating fair and equal representation in government.
Why do we as voters need to be watchdogs over this supposedly simple and mundane process? To use a proverbial metaphor, we need to participate, because the fox is in charge of the henhouse. Those public officials who have the most to gain from having a political advantage are in charge of drawing the boundaries of their districts — if they are the majority party, that is. Although the system of allowing politicians to draw their districts exists in most states, it’s not always a fair process in which residents’ interests are front and center.
Since 1965, we have had help in our watchdog task from the Voting Rights Act. After its recent renewal in 2006, nine states, including Georgia, remain on probation under Section 5 of the bill. These government entities have to secure preclearance before enacting any changes to voting laws in their jurisdictions.
On Aug. 15, the Georgia General Assembly began deciding just how much our precious vote will count in the coming decade. We need to make sure our elected officials are drawing maps that represent each of us, not a political party or an incumbent. It is we who should pick our representatives; they should not pick us.
Several public interest groups in Georgia, including the League of Women Voters, Georgia WAND and Common Cause Georgia, have come together to form the Georgia Redistricting Alliance. The alliance has closely followed the work of the Legislature. An important part of the process that the committees followed this year was to take input from residents in public meetings held throughout the state.
How district boundaries are drawn can make the difference between empowering all voices and causing some voters’ voices to be muted. It can keep a community together or split it apart, leaving it without a representative who feels responsible for its concerns. Redistricting can change who wins an election and who controls the Legislature. And it can ultimately determine which laws get passed.
At a House Redistricting Committee hearing, William Perry of Common Cause said the legislative maps had achieved three of five guidelines put forth by the alliance. The two objectives not met by the new legislative maps, in his view, were the failure to keep communities to preserve existing city, county and geographical boundaries within districts, and to keep the considerations of incumbency and political parties out of the process.
Former representative and Lawrenceville lawyer Lee Thompson lamented the division of the city of Lawrenceville into five state House districts.
Sharon Blackwood of Duluth, of the Gwinnett League of Women Voters, asked the chairman of the Redistricting Committee, state Rep. Roger Lane, R-Darien, where were the minority-majority districts in Gwinnett County, since the whole county was minority-majority. Lane seemed not to know the results of the 2010 census in Gwinnett County.
Not every state goes about redistricting the way Georgia does.
A few states use an independent commission, an approach we strongly advocate. In 2006, Gov. Sonny Perdue’s Independent Redistricting Task Force made a similar recommendation to put the line drawing in the hands of a citizens’ redistricting commission, but unfortunately the Legislature ignored the recommendation.
Now the Georgia legislative district maps have passed the House and Senate, and have been signed into law by Gov. Nathan Deal. Senate redistricting chairman, Sen. Mitch Seabaugh, R-Sharpsburg, at one meeting presupposed that the Republican maps would be sent to the District of Columbia district court to be reviewed by a three judge panel for preclearance rather than the Democratic Department of Justice.
Seasoned Democrats say “not to worry” to those who complain. State Sen. Curt Thompson, D-Tucker, told us that no Georgia maps have survived constitutional challenges since the enactment of the Voting Rights Act in 1965.
They have been sent back to the Legislature and eventually drawn by the courts.
Perhaps by 2020, we all can obtain map-drawing software on our personal computers so that communities can draw their own maps. Then we could take that big step toward civic activism. We could really be involved. That should cure the redistricting transparency problems.
Dorothy Shaw of Snellville is a member of the League of Women Voters in Gwinnett County.
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