Reasons Republicans should be ashamed of their so called Reapportionment

Reapportionment

  

1.The Republican proposals for House maps DISCRIMINATE against the ability of 

Georgians to build multi-racial coalitions. 

• GOP-led reapportionment hearings were not held in places and times in which 

most Georgians could attend. The panels did not fully reflect the diversity of 

Georgia. 

• The sole Hispanic Democratic legislator faces loss of his multi-racial district. 

2. The proposed House maps PURGE Georgia of White Democrats in a cynical ploy to 

eliminate voter choices through the construction of hyper-partisan maps. 

• Based on initial district map pairings and gerrymanders, the number of White 

House Democrats may be reduced from 20 to 10. 

• GOP map makers are drawing White Democrats into competion against Black 

Democrats in a thinly-veiled ploy to eliminate choices for Democratic voters. 

• White Democrats have successfully represented Majority-Minority districts; 

however, these proposals pit several of them against African-Americans 

representing Majority-Minority districts. 

• The maps unlawfully pack districts and reduce voting strength. 

• Forty-eight percent of Georgians supported Obama in the last election cycle. New 

maps reduce Democratic representation to 32 percent – with as few as 10 White 

Democrats in a state that is still predominately White in population. 

3. The Republican maps are using the Voting Rights Act to RESEGREGATE Georgia. 

• Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act prohibits racial discrimination of any kind.  

The proposed maps appear to be systematic in their targeting of White 

Democrats and harmful in their outcome. 

• The artificial creation of 7 new Majority-Minority districts at the expense of 

integrated districts violates the intent of the Voting Rights Act.  

• Potentially reducing the number of White Democrats further isolates African 

Americans and all other voters by limiting their ability to build coalitions. 

4. Democrats support maps that are fair and do not POLARIZE COMMUNITIES that have 

been successfully integrated through the Voting Rights Act. 

• Packing districts with African-American voters not only flies in the face of the 

Voting Rights Act, it suppresses by inclusion. 

• Georgia has successfully created multi-racial coalitions over the last 46 years, an 

achievement that will be eroded if the proposed maps are adopted. 

• Discrimination based on past political expression has been frowned upon by 

members of the U.S. Supreme Court. 

  

5. The Republican proposals ISOLATE minorities in Georgia – silencing the votes of 

millions of Georgians. 

Reapportionment 

 • Republicans are isolating Latino voters by moving the ONLY Democratic Latino 

Representative into a predominately GOP district. 

• Republican maps are forcing two of the three gay representatives (and the only 

two African-American LGBT representatives in the nation) into competiton with 

fellow incumbent Democrats, resulting in the potential reduction of gay 

representation in the House. 

• Blacks are pitted against Whites, and all Georgians lose in the process.

• Democrats have only been shown tiny portions of the overall state House map. The 

state Senate maps and Congressional maps have not been shown to legislators or the 

public.  We cannot have an informed opinion on maps or the process without being able 

to see the bigger picture. It is the same as asking us to report on a book after reading 

only one page. 

 • Democrats have only been allowed to look through a knot hole and are concerned that 

this has not been a fair, transparent and equal process.  The window dressing of public 

hearings cannot mask private maneuvering or its effects. 

 • There is no legal standing for Republican comments that they are allowed to have up to 

73 percent Black Voting Age Population in a district or must have 49 Majority-Minority 

districts. These are manufactured numbers.  The Voting Rights Act does not require a 

specific threshold or a specific count, and the outcome cannot reduce the electoral 

power of minorities, including their ability to coalition with other groups. 

• The effect of creating a Republican super-majority would be devastating to Georgia 

citizens, leading to constitutional amendments that have been introduced or passed in 

other states: 

 o Tax Laws (Eliminating the Income Tax by Increasing Sales Taxes on the poor 

and middle class) 

o Reproductive Rights (Adopting the Personhood Amendment that states life 

begins at fertilization) 

o Gay Rights (Outlawing Gay Adoption) 

o Immigration (English-only laws that affect citizens, residents and visitors) 

o School Vouchers (Diverting more funding from public schools without 

accountability)  

 • The districts maps we have seen manipulate the Voting Rights Act, maximize GOP 

voting performance at the expense of multi-racial coalitions and repeat the partisan 

mistakes of the past.  The GOP promised a new day - and all of Georgia's citizens 

deserve one.