2021-07 Who wants GA legislature to take away your rights? - Martha

Who wants the Georgia state legislature to take away your rights? Well, our state legislators are getting ready to do just that. After every census, Congressional and state districts get redrawn. If the political party in control wants to change those district boundaries to guarantee they stay in power, each Georgia voter will have no control over whether they have fair representation.

When elected politicians redraw district lines and select their voters, we call this “gerrymandering.” It cheats certain groups out of their right to choose their representatives. Both the Dems and the GOP have abused this power in the past. It’s time to end it.

When voters of different parties are surgically and deliberately segregated into separate districts, politicians no longer have to listen to citizens with different political viewpoints. This encourages politicians to focus only on the political extremes. And this is one reason Congress has become such a “swamp”.

In Georgia, redrawing voting districts is done largely in secret by the state legislature. This is simply wrong! Contact Redistricting Committee Chair John Kennedy, (john.kennedy@senate.ga.gov) and Vice Chair Bill Cowsert, (bill.cowsert@senate.ga.gov) to insist they provide a transparent timeline for the redistricting process that includes providing draft maps for community review.

They and our local state legislators need to hear from us that we expect and deserve fair and transparent redistricting that serves the people, not the politicians or political parties!

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