Atlanta – The American Civil Liberties Union of Georgia and Common Cause Georgia continue their statewide tour to promote fair elections through creating impartial legislative district lines. “Voters should pick their leaders rather than politicians picking their voters, a practice that we have been fighting since the 1960’s” said Andrea Young, ACLU of Georgia executive director. “We will continue to fight to create district lines throughout the state that are fair to all voters.”
The Georgia tour is a full-court press to raise awareness about what Georgians can do to create fair district lines and remove the politicians’ influence in this process. The meetings will focus on the problems with that unfair district lines create for Georgians, solutions at both the state and local levels, and how citizens can protect democracy in their own communities.
“Politicians in Georgia have been gaming the system for too long, drawing district lines in ways that put their own interests ahead of the voters they’re supposed to serve,” said Sara Henderson, executive director of Common Cause Georgia. “The more people understand about this issue, the more empowered they are to advocate for a nonpartisan process to draw district lines that end this partisan process once and for all.”
Earlier this year, the ACLU of Georgia and Common Cause Georgia testified against and helped defeat HB 515, which would have redrawn several state legislative district maps to benefit incumbent politicians by removing minority voters from their districts. The move was widely condemned as an underhanded scheme to rig the maps in favor of one side.
ACLU of Georgia and Common Cause Georgia are working to build momentum for nonpartisan redistricting reforms, like Senate Resolution 6 and Senate Resolution 7 introduced earlier this year, to ensure fair maps and equal representation for all Georgians ahead of the next nationwide round of redistricting in 2022.
According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, 13 states now have a commission responsible for drawing state legislative districts. Five states have an advisory commission that can assist the legislature with drawing the district lines, and five states have a backup commission that draws the lines if the legislature is unable to agree.
The statewide tour includes events in with stops in McDonough, Valdosta, Albany, and Savannah.
Visit acluga.org/fairdistrictlines for information on times, dates, and places.