Saturday, November 20, 2021

Video Shows How Redistricting Affects Residents Of Oconee And Clarke Counties

***Maps Of Counties Divided And Districts Constructed***

With a population of 41,799, Oconee County is too small to have its own House District.

Clarke County, however, has enough residents to have two districts of its own, with 9,649 residents left over.

With the addition of those 9,649 residents from Clarke, plus another 8,063 from another county, such as from the area around Statham in Barrow County, Oconee County could be whole and dominant in a House District, as it was prior to redistricting in 2011.

If Oconee and Clarke joined in a Senate District, they would need fewer than 21,000 residents from another county, such as Madison or Barrow or Walton, to form a Senate District.

The outcome of the latest round of redistricting is quite different from the outcome just described.

Maps Cut Counties

The House map proposed by and adopted by Republicans in the General Assembly cuts Oconee County into two parts and Clarke into four.

The rejected Democratic House map chopped both Oconee and Clarke into three districts.

The Republican Senate map, approved by the legislature, puts Oconee and parts of Clarke into a district with three other counties.

The rejected Democratic map had joined Oconee and Clarke with parts of Walton County.

After I wrote about redistricting on Oconee County Observations, the Oconee County Democratic Party asked me to speak about the topic at its virtual meeting on Nov. 18.

The presentation I made incorporated things I had included in earlier posts, and things that were new.

The video of that presentation, recorded from Zoom, and of the discussion that followed, is below.

For the record, I have included a second video, which is of the entire meeting, including my presentation.

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