David Armstrong is the Executive Editor of the Georgia News Lab, an award-winning investigative reporting collaborative. Contact David Armstrong at david.armstrong@georgianewslab.org
When Georgia lawmakers convene this fall to draw new legislative boundaries, they will bring a political eye to the process, colored by partisanship and a distinct self-interest in the outcome.
GPB News and the Georgia News Lab transcribed more than 18 hours of public comment offered by 289 people at 10 hearings across the state and online to track what Georgians are asking for in the mapmaking process.
As the once-a-decade process of redrawing Georgia’s legislative and congressional districts gets underway, government accountability groups and members of the public are calling on lawmakers to increase transparency and public input in the process.
While Georgia’s redistricting process is inherently partisan, there are measures that experts say can be employed to make the process fair and transparent. But a Georgia News Lab/GPB News review finds the state falls far short of those measures.
A group of Republican lawmakers are parlaying their election skepticism into bids for higher office, launching campaigns for Congress, the governor’s mansion and the office of the top election official in the state.
