Line by line, Redistricting Continues

Some 60 people gathered at the on Sunday evening for a town hall meeting on redistricting. Sponsored jointly by the Democratic and Republican parties of Athens Clarke County, the event gathered public comment on various proposed local and drawn to reflect population changes determined by the 2010 U.S. Census.

And it brought together a panel of three elected officials who answered questions about how the various lines had been drawn for voting districts. State Reprsentatives Doug McKillip and Keith Heard, along with former mayor Gwen O’Looney, made up the panel, according to a story in the Athens Banner Herald.

On listservs and in the local paper, Rep. McKillip has made no secret of his to draw and present his own maps to the legislature for the Athens Clarke County Commission seats. During the Sunday town meeting, those in attendance learned from McKillip:

• He didn’t bring his maps to the meeting
• He considers Republicans an under-represented minority in Athens
• He is the only state representative involved in a local redistricting effort.

The nine-member committee appointed by Mayor Nancy Denson to redraw the commission districts in Athens Clarke County has created a few different maps. One comes from consultant Linda Meggers, one comes from committee member Regina Quick, another is a revised version of Quick’s first map and a third is a revision of the revised map.

Quick’s map merges the two districts that include Five Points, 4 and 7, into District 7. This means that the house of District 4 Commissioner Alice Kinman would be in Commissioner Kathy Hoard’s district. Kinman is up for re-election next year.

Quick also wants the community “to have a conversation about the Superdistricts,” which were created, said Gwen O’Looney, to give voters more than one elected official to talk to about problems. Quick wonders whether the Superdistricts dilute black voting strength and disenfranchise black voters, an issue raised by some attending Sunday’s Town Hall Meeting.