Mary Harrison, staff writer

Georgia state legislators will gather next Wednesday for a special session to redraw voting district lines for congressional and General Assembly seats, following the results of the 2020 United States census. Both major political parties have released map drafts, but little change is expected, especially for the Floyd County area, as Republicans try to maintain a majority in the Assembly and U.S. House delegation.

According to Associate Professor of Political Science, Eric Sands, Georgia has three separate district maps: a congressional map for the 14 members in the U.S. House of Representatives, one for the 56 state senators and a third for the 180 representatives in the state House.

States redraw their legislative and congressional voting districts once every 10 years, after U.S. census data is finalized. Redistricting occurs to make sure that districts are still representative based on changes in population size, although politics can make the process a target for controversy. States must finalize their maps before the 2022 primary elections, when constituents will get to choose who represents the newly reformed districts. 

Georgia’s population grew from nine to 10 million between 2010 and 2020, according to Sands, but that is not enough to change the state’s apportionment of the 435 members in the U.S. House. In comparison, Texas will be gaining two seats and Florida will be gaining one, while California, New York and Pennsylvania will each lose one seat.

Depending on how much a district’s population size has changed and how districting lines are drawn, redrawing the lines can change how many counties a district contains, where voting centers are located, and who represents the district’s population. Sands does not anticipate major changes in the district lines in the plan that will eventually be finalized by Republican Governor Brian Kemp. 

“There are a couple of districts where incumbents are going to be pressured a bit more by challengers because the districts are going to be a bit more competitive than they have been in the past,” Sands said. “But a lot of districts are going to remain virtually untouched, like the 14th [congressional district, containing Floyd County], they are not really talking about making any changes to. Marjorie [Taylor] Green’s district, I don’t see anyone being able to challenge her for the foreseeable future, even with redistricting.”

In Georgia, as in most other states, committees of state legislature members redraw district lines with few federal requirements, Sands said. Constituents in the districts to be contiguous, or contained within one area, and compact, or as close together as possible, to cut down on travel for voting and campaigning. Those drawing the districts also try to keep communities together as much as possible. 

Legislative committees are bipartisan, but the majority party, in this case the Republicans, have an advantage, so winning a majority in the State house during a census year is very important because district lines affect representation in the state legislature and House of Representatives for the next decade, according to Sands.

“That’s the advantage of winning elections,” Sands explained. “When you’re the party who wins in 2020 [or another census year], you’re the one who gets to set the district lines.”

While students who reside in Georgia should not expect major changes to their congressional district, Sands anticipates that they will see changes to their state Senate and House districts because Georgia’s population increased 1 million, or nearly 10%, over the last decade. Sands said that redistricting is more consequential on the state level.

“You have to then incorporate in a million more people into your representation scheme, which, where you’ve got over 100 seats in the House and 40-some seats in the Senate, that’s a lot of districts,” Sands explained. “And trying to draw all of those with approximately the same number of people in each one, that’s a monumental task.”

Due to the growth in minority populations and urban areas, the Republican majority in the General Assembly will not be able to create as big of an advantage for themselves as they did when the last redistricting occurred 10 years ago, according to Associate Professor of Political Science Michael Bailey.

“There’s only so much you can do to manipulate the lines if the demographics have changed, so much so we’re a little bit more Democratic, as a state, than we were in 2010,” Bailey said. “I actually don’t think there’s going to be a massive change one way or another, either at the national level of the House Representative or, the districts for the General Assembly.”

Students should not get discouraged and check out, because local politics can have a large effect on state policies and national elections.

“In the United States to an unusual degree, local and state politics have a huge ripple effect at the national level,” Bailey explained. “Whoever is the majority party in the state legislature gets to set the rules of the game, so your vote at the local level has a tremendous impact on the national level as well.”

Sands suggests that students get involved by looking up the current draft of the district map, deciding it is fair to their community and expressing any concerns to their state legislators.

“Write them, call them, send them emails, tell them what you think about the redistricting proposals,” said Sands. “If they hear from enough people they are going to listen and perhaps try to intervene in the process.”

Staying aware of the political process is even more important for out-of-state students who must vote absentee, according to Noah Miller, a senior political science major and out-of-state resident herself.

“Our [state and federal] senators and our representatives are probably the most powerful politicians that we have within the government,” Miller explained. “So when you don’t pay any attention to what they’re doing, when you don’t hold them accountable, when you have no idea who your senator or who your representative is, it allows them to basically politic in any way that they see [fit].”

To decide if members of the U.S. Congress represent their views, Miller recommends that students look up voting records on GovTrack.us, a non-governmental organization that follows Congressional activity. For news about legislators on the state and federal levels, students can follow their legislators’ social media accounts and the social media accounts of trusted journalists.

“Focus on policies that are important to you,” Miller explained. “Do you care about educational law, the environment, gun rights, women’s health rights? Focus on those [policies] and vote accordingly.”

Students, especially those who are out-of-state, can also maximize their voice politically by being proactive about getting their ballots in for federal, state and local elections. Miller encourages students to stay on top of the absentee voting process by applying early, paying attention to deadlines and voting in person if possible.

While students cannot change the partisan leanings of legislators, Bailey said they can maximize the power of their vote to create tangible change by voting in primaries and considering voting in Georgia.

“Georgia is right on that razor’s edge [with politics] and every vote really does matter,” Bailey said, referencing the recent contentious elections for governor, president and U.S. Senate. “If your home state is not competitive [politically], then you ought to think about registering in Georgia, where it is competitive, because then your voice has more impact.”

Additionally, all students should vote in their state’s primary elections to steer away from partisanship. 

“Only the usually most, passionate people, vote, so primaries have a tilt in favor of precisely the people who add the most heat to our political rhetoric and anger,” Bailey said. “If more people voted at the primary level, we’d have a lot more moderate, folks in Congress.”

Students should stay involved in the process even though it is complex, Miller said, because their voices matter.

“Our voices are important,” Miller emphasized. “Wherever you stand, you deserve to have your opinion considered when things are getting done, make sure to actually vote, and make an educated vote. Don’t just vote on whether they’re Red or Blue. Look at some policies first.”