(The Center Square) — Georgia lawmakers signed off on state Senate and House maps a day after legislative committees approved them.
Lawmakers needed to redraw their maps after a federal judge said they violated federal law. The judge set a Dec. 8 deadline for lawmakers to pass updated maps.
Unsurprisingly, the debate has fallen along party lines, with Republicans saying the new maps comply with U.S. District Judge Steve C. Jones’ order and Democrats saying they don’t — and will continue to disenfranchise Black voters in the state.
“Georgia Republicans’ proposed legislative maps are lipstick on a pig,” Democratic Party of Georgia Executive Director Kevin Olasanoye said in a statement.
“Republicans had a clear directive from the federal court to rectify what they got wrong two years ago and draw maps that give Black Georgia voters a fair opportunity to elect candidates of their choice,” Olasanoye added. “Instead, they have simply reshuffled their current gerrymanders to continue protecting their own political power at the expense of Black voters. Georgians see right through these tactics and deserve better.”
The state House passed its revised maps, HB 1EX, with a 101-77 vote, while the state Senate passed its revised maps, SB 1EX, by a 32-23 vote. On Friday afternoon, the state Senate Committee on Reapportionment and Redistricting and the state House Committee on Reapportionment and Redistricting began considering the maps.
“We believe this will comply with Judge Jones’ order,” state Rep. Rob Leverett, R-Elberton, chairman of the House Committee on Reapportionment and Redistricting, said during the Senate Committee on Reapportionment meeting. “We also tried to take into consideration as we made those districts, of course, the other criteria, like continuity, compactness, communities of interest, and the like.”
On Friday, Republicans unveiled a revised congressional map to comply with the judge’s order. Lawmakers said that the 14 congressional districts were drawn to the “ideal district size” of 765,136 residents.
“This map meets the promise we made when this process began: it fully complies with the judge’s order, while also following Georgia’s traditional redistricting principles,” House Speaker Jon Burns, R-Newington, said in a statement. “We look forward to passing this fair redistricting plan.”
By T.A. DeFeo | The Center Square contributor
