Today, after Georgia Republicans passed a State Senate map that continues depriving Black Georgia voters of a fair chance to elect candidates of their choosing, DPG Executive Director Kevin Olasanoye released the following statement:
“Today, Georgia Republicans have passed a Senate map that deliberately refuses to bolster Black voting power and instead protects their own partisan interests at Black voters’ expense. With their Senate map that fails to provide majority-Black opportunity districts where the federal court identified vote dilution, Georgia Republicans are trying to get away with racial gerrymandering and voter suppression on a technicality. It’s utterly shameful the lengths that Republicans are going to in order to avoid giving Black Georgia voters a fair say in our democracy.”
Background on Republicans’ Senate map
Republicans’ proposed Senate map does not expand Black voters’ opportunity to elect candidates of their choice.
- While Republicans’ map technically adds two majority-Black districts, it “adds” them in areas the court did not identify for remedy while ignoring areas that the court did identify.
- The court’s order called for two new majority-Black districts in south metro Atlanta, but Republicans’ map creates a new district in Cobb County instead – and it does so by drawing in Black voters from other districts that were already majority-minority.
- This leaves thousands of Black voters in the 10-district vote dilution area identified by the court without the ability to elect a candidate of choice.