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August 17, 2011
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Flagpole., August 17, 2011, Image 6
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THE MAGIC OF REDISTRICTING
Georgia legislators have returned to Atlanta
this week for a chore they must handle only
once or twice every decade: redistricting.
This is the process by which the boundar
ies of Georgia's legislative and congressional
districts are redrawn so that each district con
tains more or less the same number of people
and reflects the population shifts recorded
in the most recent census. The process is
important because it will have a huge influ
ence over the political outcomes of the next
10 years.
Redistricting is the process by which
the party controlling the Legislature (the
Republicans) maximizes its political
strength at the expense of the minor
ity party (currently the Democrats).
Ten years ago, Democrats
controlled the General Assembly
and were trying to hang on to
power in a state that was obvi
ously trending Republican. They
drew maps with weirdly shaped
districts that packed as many
Republicans as possible into as few
districts as possible.
Georgia voters showed a prefer
ence for Republicans in the 2002 elections,
as indicated by the results of the two races at
the top of the ballot. They elected Republican
Sonny Perdue as governor with 51 percent of
the vote and Saxby Chambliss as senator with
nearly 53 percent of the vote.
In the 2002 legislative races, where
Democrats stacked the odds in their favor
through the redistricting maps they had
drawn, Democrats won 30 of the 56 Senate
seats and 108 of the 180 House seats. That's
how the redistricting process can be a power
ful political topi. Those Democratic maps were
so egregiously drawn that a panel of federal
court judges threw them out in 2004 and sub
stituted politically neutral districts.
In this redistricting round. Republicans
control the Legislature and are drawing the
maps. Like the Democrats, they have the abil
ity to use those maps to bolster their political
power beyond the preferences of individual
voters.
Georgia is a predominantly Republican
state, but more than 40 percent of its vot
ers still choose Democrats. In the 2008
presidential election, 47 percent of the state's
voters cast their ballots for Democratic can
didate Barack Obama. In the 2010 election,
Democrats running for statewide constitu
tional offices were all defeated, but they drew
42 or 43 percent of the vote.
Redistricting maps that reflected the
preferences of the state's voters would
leave you with a congressional delegation,
a state Senate and a state House of
Representatives that tilted 60-40 in
favor of Republicans.
Republicans have drawn a con
gressional map in which 10 of the
14 U.S. House districts will have
Republican majorities strong
enough to elect a GOP candidate.
Fewer than one-third of the con
gressional districts will be com
petitive for Democrats, and each of
those districts will probably be won
by an African-American candidate.
The plan for the state Senate could result
in Republicans controlling more than two-
thirds of the seats for a 38-18 advantage.
Similar results are expected in the map
drawn for the state House. GOP consultant
Mark Rountree estimated that 121 of the state
House districts, which is more than two-thirds
of the 180 seats, will be Republican-leaning
districts. The Republicans may have built a
two-thirds majority for passing any consti
tutional amendment they desire, since they
will be in a strong position to win nearly 70
percent of the seats in the General Assembly.
That is the magic of redistricting.
Tom Crawford tcrawford@gareporls.com
Tom Crawford is the editor of The Georgia Report, an
Internet news service at gareport.com that covers
government and politics in Georgia.
THIS MMhRM W*RL»
by TOM TOMORROW
I Ik* story of...
Tea Party
Tim...
...and
Plutocrat
Pete!
two years ago: an
UNLIKELY FRIENDSHIP
IS BORN.'
But more recently-- ■ and then--
WE CANT LET THEM
RAISE THE DEBT CEILING.*
WE'VE GOT TOO MUCH
DEBT ALREADY! RIGHT,
NEXT TIME WE'LL FORCE
'EM TO DEFAULT! IT'S
THE ONLY WAY TO GET
SPENDING UNDER CONTROL*
I THOUGHT YOUR UNIN
FORMED OUTRAGE WOULD
BE USEFUL IN MY ETER
NAL STRUGGLE TO AVOID
TAXATION* X DIDN'T
REALIZE YOU WERE A
NIHILISTIC MORON WILL
ING TO CRASH THE ENTIRE
ECONOMY
IF YOU'LL EXCUSE ME,
I'VE GOT TO GO TRANSFER
some assets into u.s.
TREASURY BONDS—WHERE
THEY'LL BE SAFE!
6 FLAGP0LE.COM AUGUST 17, 2011
'foM 'f*M»RRoW©20ll ...www.thlsmodemwoiid.com
