Redistricting 101 - a long read but well worth it

                         Redistricting in Georgia 101 

The Georgia Redistricting Alliance is a coalition of non-profit, non-partisan organizations with the shared goal of ensuring transparency and 

fairness of the redistricting process in Georgia.     Supported in part by a grant from the League of Women Voters Education Fund and Open 

society Foundations.   

Georgia Redistricting Alliance 

The Georgia Redistricting Alliance is a coalition of non-profit, non-partisan organizations with 

the shared goal of ensuring transparency and fairness of the redistricting process in Georgia.   

Our coalition strives to engage and educate citizens, work in partnership with our elected 

officials, and submit a fair, balanced map to the Georgia General Assembly.  

Our standards for fair and equitable redistricting in Georgia  

􏰀 No plan or district shall be drawn with the intent to favor or disfavor a political party or 

an incumbent. 

􏰀 Districts shall not be drawn with the intent or result of denying or abridging the equal 

opportunity of minorities. 

􏰀 Districts shall consist of contiguous territory; and to the extent feasible, districts shall be 

compact.   

􏰀 Pursuant to the principle of “one person, one vote,” districts shall be as equal in 

population as possible. 

􏰀 Where feasible, apportionment plans shall make use of existing city, county, and 

geographical boundaries, and similar communities of interest.    

What is redistricting? 

Every ten years, the census count gives us a snapshot of how many people there are in the 

United States and where they live.  

Once we know how many people live in Georgia, we redistrict. That is, we draw new district 

lines that put the same number of people into each electoral district.  

Redistricting ensures every person has equal representation by drawing districts with an equal 

number of people – one person, one vote.  

Why is redistricting important to me?  

One of the greatest powers that you have is the right to elect your own representatives to 

conduct the business of your government. How the district boundaries are drawn can make the                         

difference between empowering and maximizing the voters' voices or minimizing and muting 

those voices.  

Speaking up about your community is critical to ensuring district lines are drawn to keep your 

community whole and grouped with nearby communities with similar interests. This ensures 

that your voice is heard by your elected leaders in such decisions as the quality of your child’s 

school or how high your taxes are. 

The Timeline 

March/April 2011  

On Thursday, March 17th the Census Bureau officially released block level census data to the 

state legislature and shortly thereafter to the general public.   The Georgia Legislative and 

Congressional Redistricting Office is given the task, at the direction of state house and state 

senate committees, to draw district lines.  By Federal law all states must receive their data 

before April 1st.    

May – July 2011  

Hearings by the House & Senate Legislative & Congressional Reapportionment Committee 

(Committee) to get input from the public.    

August/September 2011  

The Georgia General Assembly will hold a special session beginning on August 15 to present and 

approve these district maps.   Historically, each body draws their own map and is then 

approved by the opposite body, typically without opposition.    The Governor’s signature is 

required for approval of the map.  While the maps are being drawn, each body will submit their 

redistricting plan and make them available for public comments.    

October  2011 – February 2012  

 Voting Rights Act (VRA) Preclearance Action should be filed with the Department of Justice 

(DOJ) before October 1, 2011.  The DOJ has 60 days to respond to the filing and if needed 

proceed with motions of summary judgment and possible trials during early 2012 with a 

decision by February 2012.  Georgia is unique as it is still under review of the DOJ under the 

Voting Rights Act of 1965. (See Terms to Know)    

                         

April 2012  

The new district lines, if preclearance is granted by the DOJ in February, will be set for the 

upcoming elections.   If preclearance is not given before the time of candidate qualifying, 

traditional set in late April, then a federal court will have the responsibility to draw a map for 

the 2012 elections. 

Public Hearings 

Speaking up about your community is critical to ensuring district lines are drawn to keep your 

community whole and grouped with nearby communities with similar interests. This ensures 

that your voice is heard by your elected leaders in such decisions as to the quality of your 

child’s school or how high your taxes are.  

Along with census data, publicly submitted comments will be used to assist the General 

Assembly when it begins drawing district boundaries. The focus of public testimony is to receive 

information about the unique characteristics of the public’s Communities of Interest from those 

most familiar with their neighborhoods.  

All meetings are open to the public. 

Public hearing schedule as of May 9, 2011 

Date:  Monday, May 16, 2011 

Time: 5:00 p.m.-7:00 p.m. 

Location:   Seney Stovall Chapel 

    201 N. Milledge Avenue  

    Athens, GA 30602 

Date: Tuesday, May 17, 2011 

Time: 5:00 p.m.-7:00 p.m.  

Location:   Augusta State University 

  Jaguar Student Activity Center  

  2500 Walton Way 

  Augusta, GA 30904 

Date: Wednesday, May 18, 2011 

Time:  5:00 p.m. - 7:00 p.m. 

Location:  Armstrong State University 

  11935 Abercorn Street 

  Savannah, GA 31419 

Date: Monday, May 23, 2011 

Time: 5:00 p.m.-7:00 p.m. 

Location:  Information Unavailable 

   Albany, GA 

                         

Date: Tuesday, May 24, 2011 

Time: 5:00 p.m.-7:00 p.m. 

Location:  Wiregrass Georgia Tech. College 

  4089 Val Tech Road 

  Valdosta, GA 31602 

Date: Monday, June 6, 2011 

Time: 5:00 p.m.-7:00 p.m.  

Location:  Information Unavailable 

   Columbus, GA 

Date: Tuesday, June 7, 2011  

Time: 5:00 p.m.-7:00 p.m. 

Location:  Clarence Brown Conference 

Center | 

  5450 State Route 20 

  Carterville, GA 30121 

  770-606-5763 

Date: Monday, June 13, 2011 

Time: 5:00 p.m.-7:00 p.m. 

Location:  Information Unavailable 

   Macon, GA 

Date: Tuesday, June 14, 2011 

Time: 5:00 p.m.-7:00 p.m. 

Location:  Merle Manders Conference   

                              Center 

  111 Davis Road 

  Stockbridge, GA 30281 

  770-389-5982 

Date: Monday, June 20, 2011 

Time: 5:00 p.m.-7:00 p.m.  

Location:  Information Unavailable 

   Dalton, GA 

Date: Tuesday, June 21, 2011 

Time: 5:00 p.m.-7:00 p.m. 

Location:  Brenau University 

  500 Washington Street SE 

  Gainesville, GA 30501| 

  770-534-6299 

Date: Thursday, June 30, 2011  

Time: 5:00 p.m.-7:00 p.m.  

Location:  Information Unavailable 

   Atlanta, GA 

                         

What is a Community of Interest?  

A community of interest is a group of people concentrated in a geographic area who share 

similar interests and priorities – whether social, cultural, ethnic, economic, religious, or political. 

Communities of interest are at the heart of what many consider to be the point of districts 

designed to have different character, and behind many of the other redistricting rules: a 

decision to keep a city together, or to keep a compact group of voters together, is often a 

proxy for ensuring that people with common interests are grouped within the same district. 

The factors contributing to any particular community of interest can – and should – vary 

throughout the jurisdiction, because different interests will be more or less salient in different 

geographic regions. 

• Many people believe that it is best to keep communities of interest whole, so that each 

community of interest can have a chance to have its own legislator looking out for its 

interest in the legislature, and so that individual legislators feel particularly responsible 

to serve the discrete communities as communities.  

• Others believe that it is best to split communities of interest up so that districts are 

more heterogeneous and each legislator must compromise to suit her constituents.  

• There are also instances when a sizable community, like a city dominant in its region, 

may want to be split into two or more districts, in order to extend its influence in the 

legislature.  

Each response incorporates a different idea about what representative districts should be 

meant to accomplish.  

In some circumstances, poorly-articulated communities of interest may result in districts that 

were likely drawn for political reasons with little public support.  

• As with other criteria, directly preserving communities of interest may involve tradeoffs. 

It may be the only way to ensure that pockets of neighborhoods or regional 

communities with shared political interests are not split when they happen to cross 

municipal or county lines, or when they appear on the map in geographically irregular 

patterns.  

• However, preserving communities of interest may also make it more difficult to ensure 

strict population equality, if different communities are different sizes within a state – 

and may result in non-compact lines if the communities are scattered or spread out.  

• And again, since people with shared political interests tend to vote for similar 

candidates or parties, preserving communities of interest may make it more difficult to 

draw competitive districts with voters of balanced partisan preferences. 

Source: Adapted from  A Citizen’s Guide to Redistricting, Brennan Center for Justice at the NYU School of Law, November 2010  

                         

What does the Committee need to know?  

Although Committee members are from a variety of locations across Georgia, they don’t know 

about all the communities of interest in the state. They need to hear from you where your 

community is located and why it is important to keep it together. Without that information 

from you, the Committee won’t know which communities to keep together when drawing lines.  

How do I talk about my community?  

The Committee needs to know three key things from you about your community:  

1. The economic and social interests that bind your community together.  

Common social and economic interests can vary a lot from community to community, so it is up to 

you to tell the Committee what they are. They could include common culture or history, common 

use of a particular park or transportation, or a common goal or aspiration, such as reducing crime or 

bringing in more jobs and development.  

2. Why your community should be kept together.  

You should describe why your community should be kept together in a district, which can also 

include why it would be harmful for your community to be split up into different districts. For 

example, if your community has been organizing to improve public safety or to improve public 

parks, you might highlight how your efforts would be helped by being represented by one 

representative rather than having to work with two (or more) representatives if your 

community is split.  

3. Where your community is located.  

In order for the Committee to be able to take your community into account, you must tell it 

where your community is located. You should tell the Committee where it is located (county 

and/or city) and also describe its borders. You can do this by describing physical barriers like 

streets, rivers, military bases, or shopping malls, and also by describing legal barriers like city or 

county lines.  

In addition, it can be helpful to provide the Committee with a map of where your community is 

located, including any landmarks or locations that are particularly important to your 

community.  Some online software, such as Google Maps, provide a free and user-friendly 

method to produce such maps that you can email directly to the Commission or post online for 

others to comment. Information about using Google Maps to map your community of interest 

is available at: www.Maps.Google.com.  

                        

How can I get involved?  

There are two main ways that you can provide testimony:  

In person at a public hearing: In May, June and early July, the Reapportionment Committee will 

hold all over the state where you can provide testimony in person.  

In writing: You can also provide testimony to the Committee in writing at public hearings, or you 

can send it directly to the Committee.  

Senate Redistricting Committee:  

109 State Capitol 

Atlanta, GA 30334  

Phone: (404) 651-7738 

Fax: (404) 651-5795 

House Legislative and Congressional 

 Reapportionment Committee: 

402 Coverdell Legislative Office Building 

Atlanta, Georgia 30334 

Phone: (404) 656-5087 

Your checklist for providing comments  

Consider incorporating answers to the questions listed below in an effort to assist the 

Committee in understanding each Community of Interest.  

􏰀 What bonds your community – what do you see as the common links in your 

community?  

􏰀 Where is your community located – what are the boundaries of your community?  

􏰀 Why should the community be kept together – or separate from another area?  

􏰀 Maps are very helpful! Examples include Google Maps, AAA, or even hand-drawn.  

                         

EXAMPLE 1 

I live in a unique area of Farmers Branch called Oak Knoll Valley. It is also a certified 

neighborhood council. The neighborhood is bounded between Highway 9 on the west and 

Sunnyside River on the east side. There are approximately 8,000 residents in Oak Knoll Valley 

and it is primarily a residential area with some areas zoned for commercial and mixed use 

especially along the river.  

The languages spoken in Oak Knoll Valley are primarily English and Spanish with some residents 

speaking Portuguese (Brazilian). While most residents go outside our community for shopping 

and employment, they tend to stay here for their socializing, religious activities and recreation. 

The Oak Knoll Regional Center provides a variety of activities and is a real hub of the 

community.  

Across the river from Oak Knoll Valley is the community of River Glen which is similar to our 

community as it is primarily residential. We are in the same school district and the high school 

which Oak Knoll students attend is in River Glen. It would make sense that we would be 

included in the same legislative or Congressional district.  

On the other side of Highway 9 is Gold City which is primarily an industrial and commercial 

area. Most of the residents live in multi-family apartment buildings and many of them are new 

to the area. Gold City is part of a different school district than Oak Knoll. While Gold City is in 

close proximity to Oak Knoll we have less in common than we do with River Glen.   

EXAMPLE 2 

In the eight years I’ve served on the Palmdale City Council, and in my prior 12 years as a 

Planning Commissioner, I have worked very closely with the League of California Cities to 

protect the interests of our region. In order to do that, the League has divided the state into 

several divisions based on communities of interest and similarity of resources and challenges.  

The Antelope Valley/East Kern region along with the Victor Valley High Desert is the 

Desert/Mountain Division of the League of California Cities. The Desert/Mountain communities 

include Palmdale, Lancaster, Rosamond, Mojave, Victorville, Hesperia, Apple Valley, Adelanto 

as well as several of the San Bernardino Mountain communities including Arrowhead and Big 

Bear Lake.  

                         

We work together so well in this organization because of our shared interests and challenges. 

Throughout the High Desert, unemployment is a far larger challenge than it is in surrounding 

communities like the Inland Empire and San Fernando Valley.  

Throughout the High Desert, we have water and resource challenges that exist nowhere else 

in the state due to our separate water and air basins. Additionally, we are quickly becoming 

the Green Energy Capital of the whole country. In eastern Kern, northern Los Angeles and 

northern San Bernardino counties, we have the best wind and solar resources in North 

America.  

In order to foster and build on these new technologies we must share a legislative district 

or risk these vital policy needs being subjugated under the interests of the far off 

population centers of these counties.  

The populations of Palmdale, Lancaster, Rosamond, Mojave, Ridgecrest and Tehachapi are 

nearly perfect for an Assembly District. Likewise, the population in the High Desert 

communities of Apple Valley, Adelanto, Victorville, Hesperia, and Barstow in San Bernardino 

and Inyo counties is nearly perfect for another Assembly District. Together, these districts 

would give the High Desert united and fair representation.  

Our regional Board of Trade supports a similar concept, for these same logical, geographic 

demographic and economic reasons. I would strongly urge the commission to adopt this 

concept.  

EXAMPLE 3 

I am a resident of Pacific Palisades and am writing to urge you to consider the 

communities surrounding the Santa Monica mountains as a critical common area of 

interest and keep them together in your redistricting decisions.  

Protecting our open space, watersheds, wildlife corridors, and recreational opportunities are 

important to our communities. Having elected representatives that share this priority is vital to                        

the best interests of our district.  Eight incorporated cities are within this common area of 

interest. West Hollywood, Beverly Hills, Santa Monica, Malibu, Agoura Hills, Calabasas, Hidden 

Hills and Westlake Village, and the Westside (Bel Aire, Brentwood, Westwood, UCLA, Pacific 

Palisades) and valley communities (Studio City, Sherman Oaks, Encino, Tarzana, Woodland Hills 

and West Hills) of the City of Los Angeles.  

EXAMPLE 4 

I live in Sierra Madre, the west end of the 59th AD and poster child of gerrymandering ignoring 

all principles of proper districting. This district takes slices off numerous communities as it 

wends along the foothills, eventually crossing the San Bernardino mountains and ending in 

Hesperia. Neither Sierra Madre nor Hesperia nor most of the communities with whom we are 

joined has much community of interest with one another.  

My thought would be that a district incorporating Sierra Madre's community of interest would 

focus its northern boundary along the foothills of the Angeles and San Bernardino National 

Forests and the I-210 transportation corridor. I would like to see it wholly within the San Gabriel 

Valley, which, itself, has a substantial community of interest and should remain within the 

fewest possible number of districts.  

I could envision a district starting at the west end at the westerly boundaries of Pasadena and 

Altadena and ending at the easterly boundary of Claremont, and dropping south as necessary, 

including communities such as Covina, and West Covina. I also heard proposals suggesting a 

district ending at or near the easterly boundary of Pasadena. If that were the commission's 

thought, we should still retain the rest of the district along the foothills/I 210 corridor, though it 

would obviously have to dip farther south. If that were the case I would personally prefer to be 

in the easterly of the districts, but either would be a great improvement over what we have 

now.  

At the hearing one or more of the commissioners asked about Altadena which apparently 

looked like an orphan on some maps. I cannot envision a responsible plan for Altadena that 

does not take account of its ties to Pasadena (the Pasadena Unified School District includes not 

only Pasadena, but Altadena and Sierra Madre).  

Sierra Madre's community of interest in the remainder of the foothill communities of the San 

Gabriel Valley includes the fact that we abut (and deal with) the National Forests in                          

relationships that include both the recreational aspects, but also the physical dangers of fires 

and slides. Water is a major element tying these communities together.  

Similarly you should recognize the substantial community of interest to be found in the San 

Gabriel Valley, and keep it politically together. For further information I refer you to the San 

Gabriel Valley Economic Partnership www.valleyconnect.com  

Terms to Know 

Reapportionment occurs every 10 years after the Census according to the U.S. Constitution.  

Reapportionment is the act of dividing the 435 seats in the U.S. House of Representatives based 

on census population data.  

Redistricting is the act that occurs to redraw district boundary lines following reapportionment.  

Redistricting happens on all levels: Congressional, state legislature, county commission, city 

councils, and school boards.  

Gerrymandering was first coined in 1812 after Massachusetts Governor Gerry Elbridge redrew 

districts maps in his favor.  This term is now commonly used when the lines are draw in a way 

to favor one politician political party, or community over another.   

Malapportionment is the act of creating districts with less population than other districts to 

favor or disfavor certain groups.   

Cracking is dividing groups of similar interest into separate districts.  

Packing is forcing people of similar interest into as few districts as possible. 

Tacking is taking a distant area of population and adding them to a district to include certain 

groups.  

Voting Rights Action of 1965 (VRA) as passed by Congress was designed to combat 

discrimination that denied opportunities to minorities and established  oversight of elections 

administration in states with a history of discriminatory voting practices.   Section 2 prohibits denial or 

abridgement of the right to vote based on race, color or minority language status including opportunity 

to participate in the political process and elect representative of their choice.  Section 5 provides that                          

the states under review of the VRA cannot implement any change affecting voting without first 

obtaining the approval of the Department of Justice, a process known as preclearance.   

 Helpful Resources 

US Census Bureau www.cenus2010.gov 

League of Women Voters of Georgia   www.lwvga.org  

Common Cause Georgia www.commoncausega.org 

Georgia WAND www.gawand.org  

Redistricting Game www.redistirctinggame.org