Toccoa Vice Mayor Expresses Concerns Over Reapportionment

By Ethan Jordan, WNEG Radio, Toccoa

In Toccoa, Vice Mayor Jeanette Jamieson is concerned about the General Assembly’s upcoming Special Session for Reapportionment following the recent completion of the 2020 Census.

At the Toccoa City Commission meeting last week, Jamieson says in her experience, it‘s the small counties that risk losing their political influence in Atlanta.

“The General Assembly is going to meet in a Special Session in August to consider reapportionment, and it’s always a battle. I don’t know if the Development Authority is going to but they’ve always gotten involved before and the local Chambers to birddog that process. I don’t know what the plans are to get involved with our State Representative and State Senator. But almost every time reapportionment is considered, following a census, small counties are in jeopardy. We don’t stop and think, as a county of 25,000 people we have much more political influence than if we were a county of 12,500 people, and that’s what we’ve had to guard against in the past,” she said.

Jamieson said her concern is that Stephens County might be divided into two separate voting districts like Habersham County which sits in House District 9 and House District 28.

“We don’t intend to tolerate our county being split. When I found out we were having a special session in August, and having been through that bloodletting before, I was very concerned. I think that during our next meeting, we should adopt a resolution addressing that matter. Otherwise, if we sit by and say nothing, we won’t be the squeaking wheel and we will be sorry when the whole thing is over. They’ll have to move some population figures around,” she said.

Georgia’s Joint Reapportionment Committee has been holding town hall meetings over the past weeks to get public input on the 2021 reapportionment.

The law says each district must have the same number of voters, adjusted to account for the 2020 Census.

Georgia’s population grew by 1 million since the 2010 Census, to 10.7 million residents.

After the Census results were released, Georgia did not gain or lose any Congressional seats.

Right now Georgia holds 14 Congressional seats.