Georgia’s most recent redistricting was completed two years ago. Democrats argued that the Republican-controlled state Legislature had redrawn the districts to give the GOP an advantage, which is the definition of gerrymandering.
The redrawn maps pitted Democrat against Democrat in the 2012 elections, particularly in the metro Atlanta area, which substantially reduced Democratic representation, Flowers said.
But a review of legislative members in the session prior to redistricting showed about a 35 percent Democratic representation. So the 2011 redistricting seems to have caused a targeted, but not necessarily substantial, reduction in party counts.
And the Democratic numbers are probably not all due to redistricting, said Charles Bullock, a political science professor at the University of Georgia, who has long studied Georgia’s voting trends.
“In our system where (a candidate) wins or loses a district outright, usually the majority party will get a bonus, more than its proportionate share of seats,” he said. “This tends to be true no matter which party is in the majority.
“Even if you had an independent master draw up the (redistricting) plan, the majority party would still get more seats because of the way our system is set up,” Bullock said.
And, when it comes to gerrymandering election maps, experts say the Democrats have done it too.
To sum up, Williams said that although Georgia is nearly 50 percent Democratic, the Republican majority reduced Democratic voting strength in the state Legislature to 32 percent through gerrymandered maps.
Polling data in which voters self-identify their party affiliation seems to support Williams’ 50 percent claim, although some actual voting numbers show large advantages in votes for Republican candidates.
The Democratic representation, taken at face value, is 32 percent, but placing the blame for that low representation on Republican-led redistricting is not totally fair. And besides, when Democrats are in control, they do it too, experts said.
Williams’ claim contains some truth, but it leaves out significant context that might give the reader a different impression.
via PolitiFact Georgia | Georgia Democrats blame their numbers on gerrymandering.
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