The gripes directed at court-ordered maps are drawn by Republican senators.
ATLANTA — Critics are taking aim today at new redistricting maps drawn by Georgia Republicans. The maps include two new Black majority districts south of Atlanta – yet don’t add any Democratic seats.
Some critics say the new maps drawn by state senate Republicans are likely to end up back in court because they say while they add majority Black districts, it’s unlikely to increase the number of legislators of color.
A parade of critics told Republican lawmakers their new district maps are still out of step with the Federal Voting Rights Act – which was the original reason they had to redraw them.
“This proposal does not do what it needs to do and it does not create more representation for Black voters,” said Aunna Dennis of Common Cause Georgia during a hearing of the Senate reapportionment committee.
While the maps do create new Black majority senate districts, the Republican committee chair admitted that GOP mapmakers also took politics into consideration.
“We also worked to maintain the continuity of representation as much as possible, which involved political consideration, to ensure that the senate plan remained balanced between political parties as it was in 2021,” state Sen. Shelly Echols (R-Gainesville) told the reapportionment committee she chairs.
“They didn’t follow the court order,” said David Garcia of the GALEO Impact Fund in a hallway conversation before the hearing.
He was among the critics who complained Republicans gerrymandered the maps. While they added two Black majority districts, Democratic state Sen. Donzella James (D-Atlanta), an African American, complained the new map would force her out of her Black majority district.
“It appears to be smoke and mirrors and partisan gamesmanship,” Sen. James told the committee.
Democrats have also drawn maps, which they’re presenting Thursday. But the Republican majority will decide any changes, if at all, by the time this special legislative session expires in early December.
