On October 26, 2023, a U.S. District Court ordered Georgia’s legislative and congressional districts to be redrawn before the 2024 election. The legislature had passed those maps in 2021 following the 2020 census. The litigation includes three sets of plaintiffs and the court ultimately found that the legislature’s maps violated Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act.
Among other findings, the court noted convincing evidence that the political process in Georgia was not equally accessible to Black voters when compared to their White counterparts. This being the case, the prophylactic measures prescribed in Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act were necessary when drawing redistricting maps. Some of the more recent evidence the court considered were polling place closures that disproportionately impacted Black voters and evidence of racially polarized voting in Georgia elections; a key requirement for application of Section 2.
The court gave the legislature a December 8, 2023 deadline to redraw congressional and state legislative maps, or else the court would enlist a special master to draw the maps on the court’s behalf.
Below is an excerpt from the court opinion specifying which districts in each map were invalidated and detailing the requirements for the new maps:
SB 2EX violates Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act as to the following districts/areas:
Enacted Congressional Districts 3, 6, 11, 13, and 14.
SB 1EX violates Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act as to the following areas/districts:
Enacted Senate Districts 10, 16, 17, 25, 28, 30, 34, 35, 43, and 44.
HB 1EX violates Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act as to the following areas/districts:
Enacted House Districts 61, 64, 74, 78, 117, 133, 142, 143, 145, 147, and 149.
[Remedial maps should include]:
- an additional majority-Black congressional district in west-metro Atlanta;
- two additional majority-Black Senate districts in south-metro Atlanta;
- two additional majority-Black House districts in south-metro Atlanta, one additional majority-black House district in west-metro Atlanta, and two additional majority-Black House districts in and around Macon-Bibb.
On December 8, 2023, the legislature passed and the governor signed into law a second set of maps to comply with the court order. The new maps drew strong criticism from plaintiffs and various other stakeholders. In a court hearing in mid-December, plaintiffs argued that the maps did not comply with the court order for remedial maps. The court, however, decided on Dec. 28 that the redrawn maps adopted by the Republican-led legislature “fully complied” with the court’s October order to create new majority-Black congressional and state legislative districts.
Maps
Open maps as PDF:
2023 Districts
Congressional Congressional – Metro Atlanta Senate House
2021 Districts (no longer in effect)
Media Coverage:
Federal judge upholds Georgia’s Republican redistricting plan (Atlanta Journal-Constitution)
Lawmakers close redistricting session; judge to decide if GOP-crafted maps comply with order (Georgia Recorder))
A federal judge says Georgia’s political maps must be redrawn for the 2024 election (NPR.org)
A Georgia redistricting trial begins with a clash over what federal law requires for Black voters (WRIC)
Georgia redistricting tests if the Voting Rights Act protects ‘coalition districts’ (NPR.org)
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