Congrats to Ketanji Brown Jackson on being confirmed as the 116th Justice of the Supreme Court.
The victory of Jackson’s confirmation today was delivered by over 2mil Georgia voters in January 2021, partly because Democrats in some other states failed to pull their own weight (or stupidly donated rage money to obvious honey-pots like Kentucky and South Carolina) in November 2020 for U.S. Senate candidates, partly because Dems failed to pull their weight in several other states throughout the 2010s.
The vote for Jackson’s confirmation would not have been this close (53-47) in a better timeline, it should not have taken this long to nominate a Black woman (let alone a public defender), and it will not change the ideological composition of the court. Hell, it would have been even better if KBJ had graduated from a public university, but the only remotely-credible candidate who had that credential is pretty bad in her judicial record.
For those who watched Jackson’s confirmation through the lens of breaking glass ceilings of representation for both women and African Americans, or a victory for the public defender community, they should celebrate.
But I can’t celebrate, because few liberals (or even progressives) in this country are willing to do the existential work of protecting ourselves and starving the stomach of the reactionary beast.
We are still living in the Reagan era’s wildest dreams, and we are about to get our human rights savaged by wild reactionary autocrats this summer and for the foreseeable future. And we have no strategy for how to protect ourselves from being sitting ducks under reactionary state legislatures.
When driving a car means funding a country which is attacking Europe, riding a bicycle should be seen as a patriotic act. Insulating homes and other projects to reduce energy consumption should be viewed similarly, as should projects to generate sustainable energy in our own countries.
Around 30-31 states have this “free elections” provision in their state constitutions, usually within their respective bills of rights. They are most often written in the following way: “All elections shall be free and equal, and no power, civil or military, shall at any time interfere to prevent the free exercise of the right of suffrage”:
This is not the same as the right to vote, which is usually detailed in a separate portion of a state constitution’s bill of rights (which we already have) as a declaration of who has the right and freedom to register and cast ballots. The right to free and equal elections, on the other hand, usually applies to the right to an election which is conducted without forced compulsion or constraints against voters, candidates or election officials in their participation in elections. In the past, this was more often applied against allegations of bribery, ballot tampering and other unlawful attempts to curtail the choices of voters.
In three of these states (Pennsylvania, Virginia and North Carolina), courts have determined that partisan gerrymandering is a violation of their respective states’ right to free elections (among other state constitutional violations, such as freedom of speech and equal protection), resulting in more proportionate maps being drawn by either their respective legislatures or by court-appointed cartographers.
It’s a shame that Georgia, which has the youngest constitution of the 50 states, does not have a free elections clause which helps to protect our right to free and fair elections. It is not detailed in Article I, Section I (Bill of Rights), nor in Article II, Section I (Method of Voting, Right to Register and Vote), the latter of which at least affirmatively details the right to vote.
The Trumpists who have wailed about how the 2020 election was not fair to them do not have a provision in the state constitution which backs up their claim. Furthermore, the United States Constitution neither positively details the right to vote nor details any right to free elections, and the U.S. Supreme Court in Rucho v. Common Cause has ruled out any future intervention by the federal judiciary in cases regarding partisan gerrymandering, mandating that only state courts could possibly decide such cases.
Meanwhile, the 1868 South Carolina Constitutional Convention, which was arguably predominantly-Black in membership, managed to introduce a free elections clause to the South Carolina State Constitution, where it remains to this day. The crafters of our past state constitutions (namely the 1867-1868 convention) seemed to have missed this, badly.
This is why I hope that Georgia can catch up to these other states in adding this provision to our state constitution, so that we have fairly-drawn district lines and better state constitutional guardrails against voter suppression.
Georgia Public Service Commission election case, arguing that the at-large election method in the state constitution for the Public Service Commission violates the Voting Rights Act. Federal judge just ruled (1/24) against the state’s motion for a summary judgment, in favor of plaintiffs’ request for partial summary judgment. Georgia law holds that candidates for PSC run statewide but must live in their home districts.
It is already well-documented that Republicans and their judicial sycophants like John Roberts despise the Voting Rights Act when it comes to its pre-Shelby federal intervention powers, i.e., U.S. DOJ preclearance of legislative and congressional maps. What is less well-known is how Republicans see the VRA’s insistence on majority-minority representation in redistricting as a tool for packing and cracking districts to minimize Democratic-preference representation and protect Republican incumbents.
I’m not prepared to say what implications could arise if SCOTUS reverses the Northern District of Alabama ruling.
VRA Implications for Georgia PSC
On the PSC issue, if the court rules for the plaintiffs (and the decision survives SCOTUS), Georgia would join Mississippi, Louisiana, Montana, Nebraska and New Mexico in holding elections for PSC from voters of individual districts rather than statewide. Alabama, Arizona, Illinois, North Dakota, Oklahoma and South Dakota all hold statewide elections, but seats do not represent districts. All other PSCs in other states are appointed, usually by the governor.
A victory for the plaintiff would likely recommend that Georgia changes either Article IV, Section I of the state constitution and/or O.C.G.A. 46-2-1(a) to clarify how PSC members are elected, either removing any mention of the five PSC districts or removing any mention of statewide election for PSC members. It would also mean the return of Democratic Party representation to the PSC for the first time since 2006, when David Burgess was defeated in his re-election bid. Notably, out of those PSCs which are currently elected by district, only Montana lacks any Democrats among their membership (since 2012).
What may become an issue is if the districts of the PSC, currently based around counties, are subsequently redrawn further for Republicans’ base benefit, even though the current map would likely go 4R-1D anyway (which would be an improvement).
Or is there a further opportunity to redraw this map for VRA compliance? But then would the basis exclusively around multiple counties rather than around equal population get in the way?
District 2 is easily the most competitive district on this map, having voted 51% Trump-46% Biden. The current District 2 is also a minority opportunity district which is 51% minority (30.25% Black, 11.94% Hispanic), anchored between Athens, Macon, Warner Robins and the eastern Metro Atlanta counties.
Richmond County being moved from District 4 to District 2 would make District 2 knife’s-edge, easily flippable for either party depending on the year.
District 5 is not as competitive, having voted 54% Trump-43% Biden, but moving Muscogee County from out of District 1 would make District 5 a little bit more competitive, shifting to 53% Trump-44% Biden.
The idea of having justices represent districts may conflict with the fact that state supreme courts usually take cases from, and deliver interpretations of the law which impact, all areas of their states. This is in contrast to legislatures and commission bodies like PSCs, which enact new policies.
Out of the scenarios crafted by members of the commission, the board approved Scenario J, which protects incumbents and makes the following shifts of land:
District 1 (represented by Pops Barnes on Council and Patricia Hugley-Green on the Board) gains a tiny portion of East Inglewood neighborhood from District 4, as well a a portion of the Crystal Valley neighborhood from District 5
District 2 (represented by Glenn Davis on Council and Nickie Tillery on Board) gains the remaining portion of land around the I-75-SR 96 interchange and a portion of land along Whittlessey Blvd and Whitesville Rd from District 8
District 3 (represented by Bruce Huff on Council and Vanessa Jackson on Board) gains land near 17th Street, Cherokee Avenue and Forest Avenue from District 8, splitting Weracoba Park with District 7
District 5 (represented by Charmaine Crabb on Council and Laurie McRae on Board) gains land along the border of Flat Rock Park from District 6
District 7 (represented by Mimi Woodson on Council and Cathy Williams on Board) gains Warm Springs Road and Lakebottom Park from District 8 as well as a small section of Wynnton Road from District 3
District 8 (represented by Walker Garrett on Council and Dr. Philip Schley on Board) gains more of Hilton Heights, all of Britt David Park, a portion north of Miller Rd and of Columbus Metropolitan Airport, and a portion south of Weems Rd from District 5, and gains all of the Britt David neighborhood, more of Weems Rd, and land south of the Columbus Park Crossing area from District 2
Districts 4 (represented by Toyia Tucker on Council and Naomi Buckner on Board) and 6 (represented by Gary Allen on Council and Mark Cantrell on Board) do not experience any expansions of land under this map. Besides intentionally protecting incumbents from being drawn out of their districts and making largely cosmetic changes to protect their chances of being re-elected, the map also shifts land out of Districts 2, 4 and 6 due to these districts being overpopulated.
Bishop, the lone vote against the map, said that the racial makeup of the new District 8 moved her against the proposal. The ethnic makeup of the district changed over the decade, with more African-American residents moving in than Euro-American residents moving out. The new map would pare down this shift.
Theresa El-Amin of the Southern Anti-Racism Network also spoke against some members’ comments in support of protecting incumbency for current members of both the Council and School Board. Mary Sue Polleys, a member of the commission appointed by Council from District 8, stated in a previous meeting that redrawing members out of their districts could be seen as politically-motivated. State guidelines argue against drawing currentmembers out of their districts.
The map was introduced to Council at its Dec. 7 meeting, and will hold a first reading vote on the map on Dec. 14. The map must also be assessed by the General Assembly’s Legislative and Congressional Reapportionment Office. If the map does not get final approval from Council within six months of the redistricting commission’s submission to the Council, the new map goes into effect. No date has been set for a first vote on the map in the School Board, which meets next on Dec. 13.
The map is likely to not be approved in time for council and school board elections in May 2022 unless the date for the primary and municipal elections are pushed to a later date by the General Assembly.
In regards to sex and gender relations, the current version of the bill does the following:
encodes sexual assault into the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ) as a crime for the first time
requires each military branch to establish an office to handle such crimes,
bans military commanders from making decisions about prosecutions in these and other “covered crimes”
directs DoD to track allegations of retaliation by victims of sexual assault and harassment, including demographic information on both the purported perpetrator and victim
To gain support from Republicans, Senate Democrats removed key provisions from the House’s earlier version of the NDAA FY2022, including provisions mandating the removal of language in the Selective Service Act only requiring men to register for Selective Service by the age of 18. While the NDAA had passed with bipartisan support in the House, several key Republican senators such as Josh Hawley of Missouri objected to this language on sexist grounds, while Rand Paul of Kentucky objected to the maintenance of the Selective Service System in its entirety.
Far-right Republican members of both houses objected to the bill for purported financial support of gender-affirming surgeries for transgender servicemembers, even though the bill did not include such language and merely failed to include a transphobic amendment banning such support. The bill also fails to codify President Biden’s re-integration of transgender servicemembers.
The provisions in regards to sexual assault and harassment have the support of DoD leadership.
Other provisions
The bill also includes:
the establishment of a “multi-year independent Afghanistan War Commission” to examine the beginning, procedure and U.S. withdrawal from the war over the last 20 years.
authorizing a 2.7% pay increase for servicemembers
authorizing DoD to provide a “basic needs allowance” for qualified low-income servicemembers who have experienced setbacks from the pandemic
establishes an “office, organizational structure, and provides authorities to address unidentified aerial phenomena,” aka UFOs
requires the President to develop a “Grand Strategy with Respect to China,” including assessments of Chinese activities in military, security, and foreign and economic relations in Central and South America
bans the U.S. military from buying equipment made by forced labor camps in Xinjiang Province (a provision added at the behest of Republican senator Marco Rubio)
reinforces U.S. policy against Chinese attempts to find a fait accompli against Taiwan
However, Senate Democrats removed a repeal of the 2002 Authorization to Use Military Force in Afghanistan from the most recent version. They also removed a provision legalizing marijuana banking, which was pushed by NJ Rep. Ed Perlmutter and passed the House.
Several House progressives voted against the bill due to the largesse of the funding to the military compared to the repeated cuts to the Build Back Better Act which has yet to pass the Senate.
Ending years of speculation, Fair Fight CEO and former state House Minority Leader Stacey Abrams announced her 2022 bid for governor, an announcement timed on the day after the 2021 municipal runoffs. She is widely expected in the press to be the leading candidate in the May 24 2022 Democratic gubernatorial primary.
Despite her renown and the possibility that she could have no primary competition, Abrams will face an uphill battle against the eventual Republican nominee, whether it is incumbent Brian Kemp, former U.S. Senator David Perdue, or the conservative former Democratic state legislator-turned-Republican candidate Vernon Jones. The Abrams campaign currently expects an uncontested primary for governor, preferring that more of the primary infighting occurs on the Republican side in the coming months.
Abrams also faces an uphill battle against stagnant national poll numbers for President Joe Biden and downballot Democrats. History shows an emerging Democratic Party in Georgia which only began in recent years to rebuild itself in a new image.
16 Years in the Wilderness, Then a Path Forward
The last time that Democrats in Georgia ran for governor and state row offices under a Democratic president’s first midterm was in 2010, which resulted in a poor showing, with Republican former congressmember Nathan Deal defeating the Democratic former one-term governor Roy Barnes by 10 percentage points, and the downballot Democrats performing worse in their popular vote share. The 2014 gubernatorial election also saw a poor showing by Democrats, with Nathan Deal defeating Democratic state senator Jason Carter by 8 points.
On the other hand, 2006, which was a Democratic downballot wave year nationally, also saw Georgia Democrats massively underperforming the national environment from the governor downward, with Republican incumbent Sonny Perdue dealing a 19-point defeat to Democratic Lieutenant Governor Mark Taylor, the worst result for a Democratic gubernatorial nominee in Georgia history. The Democratic popular vote percentages for U.S. House, Georgia Senate and Georgia House all exceeded Taylor’s.
In general, the 2000-2016 period was a doldrum period for Democrats, only experiencing an infusion of energy beginning in 2017 with Trump-era special elections ending the Republican supermajority in the State Senate and a spirited push by then-candidate Jon Ossoff for Georgia’s 6th congressional district. At the same time, the vote share difference between the parties has declined in each successive gubernatorial contest since 2006, from that year’s 57.9 – 38.2 difference between Perdue and Taylor to 2018’s 50.2 – 48.8 difference between Kemp and Abrams.
Abrams in 2018 was the first Democratic nominee for Georgia governor who had neither any ties with the pre-21st century political establishment within the party nor any electoral experience prior to 2000. Barnes was a state senator from 1975-1991, state representative from 1993-1999 and governor from 1999-2003; Taylor served as state senator from 1987-1999 and Lieutenant Governor 1999-2007; and Carter is the grandson of former U.S. president Jimmy Carter, and shared the 2014 ballot with Michelle Nunn, who ran for U.S. Senate and is the daughter of former U.S. senator Sam Nunn (who served in the Georgia House from 1969-1973 and the U.S. Senate from 1973–1997).
Even the other state row offices have seen improvements. The last Senate-Governor year in a Democratic president’s first midterm (2010) saw Michael Thurmond bottom out with 39% of the vote for U.S. Senate, followed closely by Georganna Sinkfield for Secretary of State with 39.4%. The last Georgia state row office election in a Senate-Governor year (2014) saw Democrats’ worst-performing statewide candidates – Christopher Irvin for Agriculture Commissioner and Liz Johnson for Insurance and Safety Fire Commissioner – each gaining 41.7% of the vote. In contrast, the 2018 election saw Fred Swann improve on the state row office floor with 46.92% for Agriculture Commissioner.
The Political Environment in Georgia
The task before Georgia Democrats is to maintain the Trump-era momentum in the Biden era, overperform against national polls, and accomplish the difficult task of putting a Democrat in the governor’s mansion, but the national environment sometimes offers mixed surprises. 2010, while a disaster for downballot Democrats across most of the country, did see Democrats pick up governorships in five states, while Republicans took governorships in eleven other states. Similarly, in 2021, Democrats lost the Virginia governorship, but retained the governorship of New Jersey in that state’s first Democratic re-election win in 40 years, a mixed early national result for Democrats downballot heading into 2022.
And the current state-level environment offers early positive signs for Georgia Democrats, with self-identified Democrats flipping 48 municipal seats in 25 counties in 2021, including a close historic win for the Warner Robins mayorship, while Republicans flipped 6.
2022 will also be the first time since 2014 that both offices of governor and U.S. senator will be on the ballot in Georgia. The Democratic nominee for governor will likely campaign at the top of the Democrats’ Georgia ticket alongside the Democratic Senate nominee, widely expected to be the incumbent Raphael Warnock, who is running for a full six-year term in office. Warnock and his fellow senator Jon Ossoff both forced Republican then-incumbents Perdue and Kelly Loeffler into runoffs and pulled off wins in January 2021.
A slew of Democratic candidates have announced bids for all executive row offices to the press throughout the year, with likely competitive primaries for Lieutenant Governor, Attorney General, Secretary of State, and the Commissioners of Agriculture, Insurance and Labor. Surprisingly, only one Democrat, Cobb County Public Schools Board member Dr. Jaha Howard, has announced for State Superintendent of Schools, an office for which there is usually a competitive Democratic primary.
Despite party-line opposition from Democrats, the Republican majority in the General Assembly passed all three of their proposed maps for U.S. House, State Senate and State House with very little dissenters. Notable controversies:
the de-facto ousting of Lucy McBath from GA-06 (she has since announced a primary challenge in GA-07, currently held by Carolyn Bordeaux who has also announced her own re-election bid)
the cracking of Cobb County into four congressional districts, with a largely-Democratic area in West Cobb being placed into Marjorie Taylor Green’s GA-14 (to her objection)
the packing of Democratic voters in Gwinnett et al into GA-07
the postponing of a Republican attempt to shoehorn electoral reforms for Gwinnett’s County Commission and Board of Education into the next session, for which outgoing Lt. Governor Greg Duncan has helped organize a bid to make all county boards of education nonpartisan
The redrawing of Democratic State Senator Michelle Au’s Gwinnett-based SD48 into a Republican-leaning district, which is notable because Au is Georgia’s first and only Asian American woman state senator
The splitting of Coweta County into five State House districts, combining a northern portion with Democratic districts extending into South Fulton County.
State House
In Columbus, the current legislative partisan makeup of the county will likely be retained, with Reps. Carolyn Hugley’s HD136 (now renamed HD141) and the retiring Calvin Smyre’s HD134 (renamed HD140).
Rep. Hugley’s district will undergo one key change: the entirety of Gentian/Elizabeth Bradley Turner precinct will move into her district from Richard Smith’s HD134 (renamed HD139), including the main campus of Columbus State University. Under the outgoing map, this precinct was split between the two districts.
Rep. Debbie Buckner’s HD136 will undergo the biggest map change: her district, currently stretching from east Columbus-Muscogee into eastern Harris, southern Meriwether, and all of Talbot, will now consist of eastern Columbus-Muscogee, all of Talbot County, a smaller portion of Meriwether County (cutting out Greenville, Gay and Woodbury), and southeastern Troup County stretching into African-American majority parts of southern LaGrange, completely excluding Harris County. This results in an odd hook shape for the district.
Under this rewrite, Harris County loses a House district while Troup County gains a district. Buckner’s former portion of Harris (Waverly Hall precinct) goes to Richard Smith’s district. Vance Smith’s HD133 (renamed to HD138) as well as David Jenkins’ HD132 (renamed to HD136) both lose chunks of southern Troup to Buckner’s district.
State Senate
Sen. Ed Harbison’s SD15 has undergone minor changes, with the Salvation Army precinct (formerly Blackmon precinct), Gentian/Elizabeth Bradley Turner precinct (formerly Gentian/Reese precinct) and Epworth precinct all being shifted to SD15 from Randy Robertson’s SD29.
Congress
With those maps passed, the General Assembly Republicans introduced on Wednesday Nov 18 a congressional map which, besides notably nuking Lucy McBath’s re-election chances in GA06 and making the GA07 much more Democratic, also shifts Sanford Bishop’s GA02 into a more interesting position: moving a bit more of northern Columbus-Muscogee into GA02 from Drew Ferguson’s GA03, but also shifting Warner Robins, northern Houston County and Thomas County into GA02 from Austin Scott’s GA08. While the addition of Thomas County would shift the African-American share of the population to under 50% and increase the Republican presence in the district, the addition of the strongly-blue precincts of Warner Robins would likely help keep Bishop in office and the district blue.
As far as Columbus is concerned, the new GA02 would pick up Moon/Morningside precinct as well as most of Cornerstone precinct north of J.R. Allen Freeway, while splitting a northern bit of the Columbus Tech precinct into GA03, cutting through the streets of the Crescent Ride neighborhood.
Aftermath
The entire process of redistricting by Republicans in the General Assembly was centered around protecting incumbents through anti-competitive measures such as packing and cracking while taking out a few Democratic casualties. New York Magazine notes that the Republicans’ treatment of voters in GA-06, among other plans, may invite a new round of litigation under the Voting Rights Act to combat instances of racial gerrymandering, although any of the challenges under the VRA face a high threshold to succeed in federal court, with nearly 2/3s of 11th circuit district judges being appointed by the last three Republican presidents (the largest share being appointed by Trump).
On the “bright side” for Democrats, this year’s redistricting process was not as brutal as in the 2011 cycle, which further sunk Democrats to such a historic nadir from 2013 to 2017 that Republicans enjoyed a supermajority of 38 seats in the State Senate, was one seat shy of a 120-seat supermajority in the State House, and held 10 congressional seats. Under the General Assembly-approved map for next year, Republicans are clearly favored for 9 seats in Congress, 33 Senate seats (with Au’s SD48 being the most competitive) and 85-97 House seats. Even though historic levels of public scrutiny and partisan intrigue were ignored by the legislative majority, they could not ignore the massive growth in population by over a million new Georgians, largely moving to the Atlanta region.
Meanwhile, redistricting for Columbus City Council and Muscogee County School District may continue into next year, as will other local redistricting processes across the state, due to the delays of the 2020 Census by the COVID-19 pandemic. This will either 1) push primaries and nonpartisan local elections later by a month or 2) force local elections across the state to be held under the current map and delay implementation of the new maps into the 2023 and 2024 elections.
To date, only three comments have been submitted from Columbus-Muscogee:
A. Russell of Muscogee County:
we would like all of Muscogee to be in one district. it would be my idea for Muscogee, Harris, and Meriweather to all 3 move to the 2dd Congressional District. thank you for this meeting.
A. Corley of Muscogee County:
I have bodycam footage of the kidnapping that was concealed during the TPR. I have SAAG Kent Lawrence and Mathias Skrowneak signatures on orders that they prepared for the Judges to sign. Kidnapping is a felony and placing my daughter up for an unlawful adoption is human trafficking. I have everything properly documented and authenticated with certification and seal. I also have audio recordings. Gov. Kemp was forwarded everything from Senators Johnny Isakson and Kelly Loeffler’s office as, federal government had to give the the State opportunity to investigate before they could. Gov. Kemp can do something as, he appointed the Commissioners for DHS. Gov. Kemp can do something as, he is head of the State of Georgia and is the executive level. Gov. Kemp had the authority and responsibility to enforce the laws made by the General Assembly. The executive branch which Gov. Kemp is under is defined as: Executive Georgia’s main executive official and head of state is the governor.
H. Underwood of Muscogee County (yours truly):
Good evening committee members, my name is Harry Underwood. I’m a resident of Columbus, a resident of Georgia since 1993 and a board member of Better Ballot Georgia, which advocates for instant-runoff voting, also known as ranked-choice voting. I’d like to take this opportunity to tell you how shameful and tiring I find this practice of redistricting by elected legislators, and how we Georgians ought to know better that this political system – of winner-take-all elections, of partisan redistricting by legislators, of restrictive ballot access laws – perpetuate a baked-in culture of constant two-way factional disrespect, drowning out the needs of our state’s residents. Other than these United States, no other political system on earth has quite the amount of unilateral temerity shared among so many elected legislators to bake in incumbent advantages for their own (and their friends’ own) benefit over the next ten years. The people of this state – no matter what party we may support – should feel upset that our elected legislators won’t let themselves compete on competitive grounds nor let themselves be judged by their ideas and goals for legislation across whole communities, not partitioned neighborhoods who are traded between districts because of their partisan lean. We have done this for over 200+ years, with one party having done this for most of this time, and another party which gained power in the early 2000s now doing the same thing. It is time to say “enough”. The people of this state should demand a better political system than that being exhibited through this committee. Georgia should adopt independent, nonpartisan redistricting by a jury of citizens representative of our state’s demographics. Georgia should adopt multi-winner districts and proportional elections systems including ranked-choice voting. Georgia should let those who want less compromise on their political principles register their own political parties with less cost and overhead than is currently, irrationally demanded under state law, so that we could have even more competitive elections. Georgia should adopt rules which count our state’s prisoners, who are currently barred from the voting franchise, as residents of their last voluntary residence rather than of their current prison, so that prison-hosting districts are not artificially inflated in their numbers during the redistricting process. And finally, Georgia should join 30 other states, including our neighbors in South Carolina, North Carolina and Tennessee, in adopting a state constitutional amendment requiring all elections in this state to be free, fair and open without civil or military interference. These five reforms could make for more elections which are reflective of our communities and demographic changes without legislators feeling the need to create maps which bake in their own advantages over the course of at least the next five successive legislative elections. These reforms could make for elections in which candidates feel more of a need to seek consideration from all voters, not merely those who “look” like they would vote for a certain party. And these reforms could set the guardrails for how our demographics are represented in our General Assembly without pitting our legislators against their constituents. I ask the members of this committee to consider the adoption of nonpartisan redistricting, instant-runoff voting, fairer ballot access laws, a ban on prison gerrymandering, and a free elections amendment to our state constitution. Thank you.
By comparison:
89 from Fulton
72 from DeKalb
46 from Athens-Clarke
25 from Cobb
25 from Forsyth
18 from Macon-Bibb
17 from Gwinnett
11 from Rockdale
10 from Augusta-Richmond
9 from Cherokee
9 from Glynn
8 from Chatham
6 from Dougherty
6 from Whitfield
5 from Camden
5 from Fayette
5 from Hall
5 from Henry
4 from Baldwin
4 from Bartow
4 from Clayton
4 from Columbia
4 from Oconee
3 from Barrow
3 from Floyd
3 from Houston
3 from Jackson
3 from Madison
3 from Newton
3 from Tift
2 from Decatur
2 from Pickens
2 from McIntosh
2 from Morgan
2 from Towns
2 from Walker
2 from Ware
1 from Bryan
1 from Bulloch
1 from Burke
1 from Carroll
1 from Chattooga
1 from Coweta
1 from Crisp
1 from Dade
1 from Douglas
1 from Effingham
1 from Gilmer
1 from Harris
1 from Johnson
1 from Jones
1 from Monroe
1 from Montgomery
1 from Toombs
1 from Walker
1 from Walton
1 from Washington
1 from White
In the meantime, a special session of the General Assembly has been called by Governor Kemp for November 3 to redraw congressional and legislative districts for the next ten years. Partisan gerrymandering is likely, with no constitutional guardrails in place at the state level and the process being controlled by Republican legislators.
In addition, it will be the first redistricting process since the U.S. Supreme Court gutted the Voting Rights Act’s preclearance provisions, meaning that state legislatures do not have to submit their maps to the U.S. Justice Department for review for any racial bias prior to implementation. Finally, it is possible that bills will be filed to ban local governments from issuing mask or vaccine mandates, a bete noire of Republicans nationwide.
A SPLOST referendum for Columbus has been scheduled for November 2. On the ballot is a Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax (or SPLOST). A “Yes” vote would raise the current sales tax in Columbus from 8% to 9% for nine months, starting in April 2022. The goal is to raise $400 million, $200 million of which will go to rebuilding or renovating the existing, deteriorating Government Center and to build a new Judicial Center.
In addition, according to the question on the ballot, the other $200 million would be dedicated to “Road, Street, and Bridge Improvements; Trials and Sidewalks; Storm Water Projects; Parks and Recreation Projects; Golf Facilities; Public Safety; General Government Vehicles and Equipment; Technology Enhancements; Columbus Ironworks Convention and Trade Center Improvements; Columbus Civic Center; and Economic Development (collectively, the “Capital Projects”)”.
If “No” prevails, the sales tax would go back to 8%. The most recent renewal of the 1% sales tax was approved in June 2020 for the Muscogee County School District.
Early Voting Begins October 12-29, from 7:30am to 5:30pm, with weekend voting on Saturday October 16, Saturday October 23 and Sunday October 24. Early voting will take place at the Citizen Service Center on Citizen Way. Absentee ballot applications are open to October 22, with a dropbox being available only during Early Voting hours (meaning that the dropbox is locked overnight, thanks to the odious SB202). Absentee voting applications are being accepted from now until October 24; applications can be downloaded, filled out digitally and emailed to muscogeeelectionsandregistration@columbusga.gov.
A T-SPLOST renewal for the River Valley region was approved by the other county commissions of the region for 2020 except for Columbus-Muscogee, with Mayor Skip Henderson saying in 2019 that Council would campaign against placing the item on the 2020 ballot if it conflicted with the aforementioned general SPLOST. The general SPLOST itself ended up being delayed to November 2 2021, while the T-SPLOST renewal for River Valley was absent from the June 9 2020 consolidated primary ballot. The River Valley Regional Commission has the option of placing the T-SPLOST renewal on the 2022 ballot.
