Community of Interest and Voting Rights Act

PURPOSE: Everyone writes one LTE, submits to a targeted newspaper.

AGENDA:

1. Welcome and introductions of members! - 10 mins

2. Why do we write LTEs?

3. Report on recent letters

4. Focus of this Meeting to continue letters on the VRA and to begin to think about Communities of Interest - 10 mins

   1. presentation

   2. ask for communities to define themselves (communities of interest)

   3. ask readers attend the public hearings being scheduled and testify

   4. target newspapers around possible cracked districts

   5. target newspapers around public town hall

   6. newspaper assignments

5. How to write an LTE that will get published - 10 mins:

   1. Tips here

   2. Include “FDGA”, or “learn more at http://fairdistrictsga.org ” if possible to push people to the website, include legislator’s name if local or otherwise appropriate. It will also help in monitoring for publication.

   3. Engage friends or relatives in new areas or even in current to keep the messages out there

   4. Other people in your community will read it; they may be inspired to write LTEs themselves

   5. Include what the ask is of the reader if you have one 

6. Letter-writing! 1 hour:

   1. What are we asking for?

      1. attend the public hearings being scheduled and testify. Use FDGA Testimony Tool-kit.

      2. use Representative.org to define your community

      3. come to the FDGA Town Hall on 6/21 “Gerrymandering in Georgia from 2000-2020”. Registration.

   2. What are the talking points of our letter?

      1. Draw maps that reflect community input. 

      2. Redistricting has a very real impact on the voices of citizens in every county, city, and town. 

      3. Legislators must listen carefully to communities across the state about their desired representation, and they must account for that input when drawing maps. 

      4. Communities, in turn, must clearly express their rationale for cohesive representation. 

      5. Many groups across Georgia will be deploying another Princeton innovation, Representable.org, which enables citizens to define communities of interest and legislators to incorporate them into maps.

      6. Legislators must listen to community. Communities have changed a lot in past 10 years.

   3. Share letters with others to be modified for other papers or for feedback

presentation: