There has been a lot of talk about just how the new voting lines will be drawn when the Republican controled Georgia Legislature votes on new redistricting for the state. 

With the addition of 1.5 million more Georgians since the last census, the state will now have a new representative in Congress and all of the lines for state house and senate will be re-drawn.  At a hearing held in Cartersville on Tuesday of this week, citizens over and over stated that they did not want politics or incumbents to determine how lines are drawn. 

Repubicans in Georgia have never had the opportunity to draw districts to their liking before as Democrats have always controled the process.  At the meeting on Tuesday, Floyd County Chamber of Commerce Director Doc Kibler called for two house seats and one senate seat anchored in Floyd County.  In order for that to happen it would most likely mean that Chattooga County would not have a Georgia House seat anchored in our county.  Commissioner Jason Winters spoke at the meeting and said that he wants to see the "rural nature" of our current house seat kept intact and called for drawing from Gordon or Walker Counties to make the necessary numbers work.

In the end, whatever is approved by the State Legislature must get the approval of the U.S. Justice Department.  That is because Georgia is still under Federal scrutiny dating back to the Civil Rights era to make sure minorities have adequate representation.  It remains to be seen what the Joint Legislative Committee on Reapportionment will present to the legislature – how the vote will go – and if it will pass muster with the Justice Department or if Federal Judges draw the lines.