Northwest Georgia will feel some impact from the once-a-decade redistricting that’s being finalized by state lawmakers and officials in Atlanta.
For voters whose districts change, election officials said notifications will go out in the next few weeks, with that process beginning once Gov. Brian Kemp approves the new county commission and school board maps.
Redistricting in Northwest Georgia hasn’t sparked the heated debates and lawsuits that have come with federal and General Assembly redistricting in other parts of the state, said state Sen. Jeff Mullis, R-Chickamauga, because it’s mainly a Republican area.
Unlike in Tennessee, where local officials draw district maps, the state legislature controls the process, proposing changes in a regular statute.
Mary Hammontree, Whitfield County registrar, said in a phone interview only a few precincts in her county were changed. She said she couldn’t give an exact number of voters affected until the governor signs off on the local maps.
“Soon as the governor signs off, we can hit complete, then we’ll have our reports and know how many [were impacted]. And I don’t know when he’s going to sign off,” she said. “We are supposed to have this done on Friday, but you know how that goes when you’re waiting on the governor.”
An email asking Kemp’s office when the local maps would be signed wasn’t returned before deadline.
Janet Grant is the vice chair of Fair Districts GA a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization working for “a fair and transparent redistricting process in Georgia.”
On the group’s website is a toolkit that helps voters evaluate if their district is fairly drawn.
Though it’s not changing much this year, Grant said it’s hard to know without specific demographic information whether Dalton’s Latino population is unfairly divided. Each of Whitfield County’s four commission districts contains a piece of Dalton.
“The question on minority representation would be whether these voters are carved up among districts in order to dilute their vote – so if primarily concentrated in a geographic community, is that carved up?” Grant asked.
Chuck Fletcher, an elections assistant for Walker County, said in a phone interview that every 10 years after the United States census, the state alters federal, state and local district boundaries so they’re balanced based on population.
Besides the local district maps, all the other redistricting has been passed by the General Assembly and signed by Kemp – even though some of those maps are being challenged in court because opponents say they discriminate based on race.
Some Georgia House district changes are happening in Walker County, Fletcher said.
“Most of ours is LaFayette precinct and the Chickamauga precinct, where the House district is changing. Any voter affected will get a precinct card [in the mail]. It will have their new precinct information on there,” Fletcher said, adding he expects the notifications to go out in a few weeks.
Some voters south of Chickamauga will move from House District 1 over to District 2, and some voters living south of LaFayette will move from District 2 into District 1. After the changes are enacted, LaFayette will become a split precinct have both District 1 and 2 voters.
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Mike Cameron, R-Rossville, is the Georgia House representative for District 1, while the District 2 seat is held by Steve Tarvin, R-Chickamauga. Fletcher said there hasn’t been much criticism of the changes, but he expects some calls when the notifications go out.
After the new maps are enacted, Whitfield County will remain in Chuck Payne’s District 54. But going forward, House District 6, represented by Jason Ridley, will contain a smaller portion of Whitfield County in the next election.
House District 4, represented by Kasey Carpenter, will continue to include Dalton, while adding some voters north of the city and losing some to the south of the city. Steve Tarvin’s House District 2 will pick up those voters south of Dalton.
Tonya Moore, director of elections for Catoosa County, described changes coming for state-level district maps there.
“Nothing changed for the Senate. [In] the House, the entire precinct of Blackstock is now going into House District 3, where it was in House District 2,” she said in a phone interview.
In January, there were 2,159 voters registered in Blackstock, she said. The Blackstock precinct votes at 773 Gordy Circle in Tunnel Hill. House District 3 is held by Dewayne Hill, R-Ringgold.
Moore said there hasn’t been much feedback or criticism on the changes because voters know lawmakers are legally required to balance the districts.
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Contact Andrew Wilkins at awilkins@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6659. Follow him on Twitter @tweetatwilkins.