 Thank you, Representative Jackson. At this time, we will officially call to order the joint meeting of the Senate Reapportionment and Redistricting Committee and House Legislative and Congressional Reapportionment Committees. First of all, I would like to thank all of the legislators that we have here. We have representatives and Senate members who have come from every corner of the state, including the southernmost point. So thank you for being here. We also have committee members and legislators who are attending virtually. They're watching us on livestream now. So thank you all for being here. And thank you all, the members of the public, for being here and for being a part of this process. It's heartening to see that we have so much participation from the members of the public. We want to hear from all of you, and that's what this portion of our redistricting process is about. This is the fifth hearing out of the 11 public hearings that we will hold across the state. And we are traveling to major cities in all the different areas of the state. We also are holding virtual meetings for those who can't attend in person. We have had a lot of interest in speaking, and as you know, some of you have signed up, I'll try to speak. We are adjusting the speaking time to allow the maximum amount of time possible within our hearing time allotted. And for this meeting, it looks like we're going to be able to allow everyone four minutes to speak. We don't have to take a whole four minutes, but we are guaranteeing everyone at least two minutes of all of our meetings that we have signed up submissions that will give us a little bit more time here. We have six more of these public hearings coming up, some in person and some virtual. We will be holding another meeting, just like this one, tomorrow night in Augusta. And then at the end of this month, we will be traveling to the south part of our state, and we will have hearings in Brunswick, and then Albany. We'll be working our way up through the midsection to Columbus and Bacon. We will have also this one more virtual hearing. And at these hearings, we'll hear what people have to say from your communities, your community, because we know it best. And we want to hear from all of you. For those of you who cannot or are not comfortable speaking in public like this, we will also be collecting written comments. And that is actually open live right now on the House and Senate websites. There's a banner on the top. If you click on that banner, it'll take you to a screen where you can submit written testimony. Our goal is to ensure that every comment that we get goes to a central location, so that we can then access it and use it when we start working on drawing these masks. Our email addresses, our email boxes, we get full of constituent issues and other issues and it's not as likely, or it's more likely to not be caught there, so we're trying to submit it all to a central location. We have also made some changes to the processes to ensure that we collect all of these full information. Members of the General Assembly all received guidance from outside council about the importance of preserving records and information. So we have been making some adjustments to our email and voice mail systems to ensure that everything that we receive from the public is being captured and retained. All of that is with the goal of ensuring that we get everyone's input into this process. I'd like to introduce myself at the beginning. My name is Bonnie Rich. I am the chairman of the House Registered Committee and I am chairing this meeting here with my colleague, Senator Kennedy, who is the chairman of the Senate Registered Committee. And with that, I hope you have it. Thank you Chairman Rich. Good afternoon. Thank you guys. Chairman Rich, I'm John Kennedy from Maine. I represent the 18th District of Georgia Senate, so I've got six counties in the middle of Georgia around the Maine area. But for today's purposes, what brings me here is I chair the House, excuse me, the Senate Registered Committee. I've got my hands full already, I don't need to help you out too. But thank you all for being here tonight. When you address some additional comments, one of the things that everyone wants to know about this process is when is the special session going to be? And the truth is we don't know when the special session is going to be. Typically, the information is in from the Census Bureau by early April. I hope the specific data that will tell where the population shifts over to the roads and then within the state. This year they're telling us that we're not expected to get that data until the end of September. So a special session obviously wouldn't be until sometime after that. But there's still also some lawsuits that are being about the data that has come and that will come also. So we can't do a lot until we get the Census data. So we'll be collecting comments now, Mr. Chairman Rich, about the process and the needs of the state. And we'll actually hear from more people once we have some certainty about the timing of that data coming in. At some point after this hearing, we will have community meetings to adopt with district team guidelines and principles. So tonight for this hearing, the first world war, the first for Athens, and we chose Athens as one of the locations to have our hearing obviously. We're going to have approach things by watching a short video that you'll be informative for you about the process that our media services folks have put together to educate everyone on some basics of redistricting abortion. Then we're going to open it up to the individuals that have signed up to speak tonight as Chairman Rich said. We try to adjust a lot of time we have to get everyone the maximum amount within the two hour periods based on the sign up. We should have funds, we should have four minutes. Ultimate politicians hold hearings, they really hold hearings because they want to hear themselves talk. That's not why we're here. We're not here trusting Chairman Rich and I, we want to hear ourselves talk. We're here for the purpose of listening to you and that's why we're going around the state. Our purpose is to hear from you and then consistent with how we handled these hearings in 2001 and also the 2011 cycles. We're not going to ask questions or answer questions. We're going to listen to whatever it is you want us to hear and whatever you want to share with us tonight. So in order to respect everyone's time, if you'll please be mindful of that four minute period, we're going to have an alley farmer here who's going to have a clock and they'll go off for four minutes and if you would please be respectful of that time and that's not for us, that's just to be respectful of the people behind you that have also signed up and want to talk to us. All these hearings are being recorded so you will have a definitive of that moving forward. I, too, like Chairman Rich, I want to thank the people on the travel across the state that are members of the Senate redistricting committee and members of the House redistricting committee. These are your public servants and we've come here tonight. You're from Yom. Finally, I want to recognize my Vice Chair of the Districting Committee, your very own Senator Bill Cousin. We've got two of you. You're a large part of Clark County and you're a large part of Clark County and you can brag on how proud he is to represent his district. So I'm proud to give these people the people he brags on a lot of these in capital. So with that, if I may, Chairman Bill, we'll turn it over to the video that we'll play and then we'll start announcing the votes to come and address us tonight. Thank you. Every ten years following the decennial census, the process of redistricting begins all over our country. Let's take a look at what that redistricting is and what else we need to know before we begin this process in the State of Georgia. My name is Jeena Wright and I'm the Executive Director of the Office of Legislative Impressional Reunforcement. We are a nonpartisan joint office of the Georgia General Assembly and we serve both the House and the Senate. What is your district? In our state grows. The number of people in each district must be adjusted so that the population in each district is as close to equal as practical. This is done by redistricting or modifying the boundary lines of the districts. In Georgia, our new 2020 census resident population total is 10,711,980 people. Because of this population increase, each of our 14 congressional districts will need to adjust to have 765,136 people in line. At the state level, our legislative branch of government has 56 state senators and 180 representatives in the state house elected by districts. State Senate districts will be redrawn to now include around 191,284 people. State House districts will also be to increase the population size to around 59,511 people. In the Georgia General Assembly, there is a standing committee on redistricting in both the House and the Senate. Each committee has a chairman. Hi, I'm Bonnie Rich. I'm chairman of the Legislative Impressional Reunforcement Committee of the State House. I've served in that capacity since 2019. Since 2018, I'm a Representative District 97, which includes parts of W, SWANI, and Sugar Rebellion. Hello, I'm State Senator John F. Kennedy. I represent the 18th district in the State Senate, which includes all of the road, beach, crawler, and housing areas and part of the county and House of County. I also chair the Senate redistricting and re-apportionment committee. What is re-apportionment and how is it different from redistricting? The term apportionment is the act of dividing and allocating representation proportionally. The United States Constitution requires that all 435 House districts shall be apportioned among the 50 states based on population from each decennial census. There is a guarantee of at least one seat per state in the United States House, and a method of equal proportions determines how the other of the 185 are distributed. Every 10 years, states may gain or refuse congressional districts based on how they gain or lost population, and can purse into other states based on data from the decennial census. The state of Georgia presently has 14 seats in the U.S. House, and the 2010 census resulted in a gain of one D.C. for the state following an increase of two new districts in 2000. It's convincing that it changed the term re-apportionment with the term redistricting, but the two terms really don't mean the same thing. Re-apportionment only occurs at a federal level when U.S. House districts are distributed amongst the states. Even with the gain of over a million people in Georgia in the past decade, Georgia will continue to have 14 congressional districts. When does redistricting take place? Traditionally, the Governor of Georgia issues a call for a special legislative session in late summer or early fall following the arrival of the new census data. The sole purpose of this session is to adopt newly redrawn maps for all statewide district plans, and may also include new maps for local county commission or school board districts. The session occurs so that all county election officials have sufficient time to update voter district assignments once the process is complete prior to elections the next year. After the Georgia General Assembly adopts new maps and the Governor signs the bills into law, they become the new election districts for use in the next election cycle, or on the date specified in the legislation. This year, with COVID-related delays in the census, the special session will likely take place later in the year because we will not receive full census data until late August or September. What other factors do we have to consider besides the equal population? The first mission redistricting is to ensure that districts are roughly equal to each other. Equalizing population ensures that each individual's vote counts the same toward their representatives. But equal population is only one part of the festival. Maps must also comply with the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and traditional principles of redistricting, like ensuring communities and districts are represented, avoiding major changes to existing legislation and legislature, and keeping local government jurisdictions whole. Those legal criteria are what often cubes maps from being drawn as perfect spoilers across our states. Why do we have public hearings? The redistricting process begins with hearing from the public. The General Assembly is ready to hear from you about the uniqueness of your part of the state, what communities of interest are here, and what important factors you should consider as we all prepare to redraw the district slater this year. We could, I'm trying to call two or three names in advance, and so the first one going down to Perkins Janet Grant from Virginia Smith from Cacklewood and Sanders within my mind. And while they're coming down, with being with me, I think I've identified as we are in Senator Frank Gaines' Senate District, and Senator Gaines with us tonight. Senator, thank you for being here. Can we meet y'all? That's great. You've got a board meeting. Good evening. Good evening. I'm Chairs Kennedy and Rich and members of the committee. My name is Janet Grant, and I'm a resident of the City of Decatur in Decatur County. I also serve as vice chair of Fair District's Georgia, and I'm really pleased to have the opportunity to testify this evening. I'm here to ask that you address communities of interest during the upcoming redistricting cycle by restoring unified city, house district representation across the state, including my own city of Decatur. We moved to Georgia two years ago, and I was surprised when researching my elected officials to find the shape of my and the surrounding house districts were sometimes referred to as bacon strips. House District 83 where I live is one mile and 17 miles long, starting in north through the hills and extending to the southern border of the county, butting up to Henry County, covering portions of six different cities and nine zip codes. This, while the City of Decatur itself, is split into four house districts. I've gotten to know my house representative, Becky Evans, well, and I found her very responsive, but I know how difficult it is for her to represent the needs of so many diverse communities. And I know that for the City of Decatur and its residents having four separate representatives means that we don't have any one representative that's really focused on the needs of our community. In the work that Fair District has completed with the Princeton Deering andering project, we have learned that this division of small cities isn't unique to Decatur in Georgia. In fact, two-thirds of the 85 small cities in Georgia are actually split into multiple house districts, despite having populations that could be contained within one district. This technique appears to have been used for partisan purposes in the 20-allowed redistricting cycle, which resulted in a 44% increase in these city splits. The practice has also continued in the numerous subsequent mid-debt day district changes made in 2012, 2014, and 2015. I ask that you listen to the residents of Georgia about their communities and conduct the transparent process that results in fair maps. For my community, that means a unified city that would be served by one house district. Thanks for the opportunity testified today. But you're welcome. Would you like some of this? I've been at this Georgia. I've been here since 2001, and we are the smallest county in the state. We are split into multiple districts for Senate and for household representatives. But I'm here to talk to you this morning about something that we did. And we all agree that each of us, everybody here has faith. Whether it's faith in God, faith in science, faith in a law of code, or faith in our American democracy, our faiths have been guiding us for generations. And you're the glue that binds us all together. Now, the 2020 redistricting exercise, frankly, gentlemen and ladies, is going to test our faiths. I, as a mere citizen of Georgia, must keep faith that each and every one of you, as our representatives, will represent all of us, and that means everybody in the Senate and the millions of people in Georgia who aren't here. So my question is, will each of you, this time, be a profile and courage and do the right thing by all of us? Will you work honestly and openly in committee to justify our faith in you and in our democracy? I want you all to believe in through your heart, and I want you to step up. I want you to respect all of Georgia voters, equally, and I want you all to ensure that we retain our votes. You may find it risky. You know what's going on in Georgia these days. It may even be uncomfortable, but to do the right thing, I want you to know this, it is never, ever wrong to do the right thing. Thank you. Thank you, Smith. Kathleen Sanders. Next, please. We follow by Iowa Key and Angela Green. Okay, it's Kathleen Sanders, sir. Oh, I'm sorry. That's okay. Please forgive me. Thank you, sir. Yes, ma'am. Um, I can't even, she doesn't know how to follow, but, um, so my name is Kathleen Sanders, and my husband and I have lived in Redlands Clark County, also known as ACC, for seven years. And ACC, we have found a true community, a compact geographic area where the residents share cultural, social, and economic bonds, as well as the belief and the power of civic engagement. All of these bonds are nurtured by the presence of the University of Georgia and fortified by a unified, civic, county government that is responsive to its citizens. In the Georgia Redistricting experts, ACC is a community of interest. To the extent possible, the intact preservation of such a community is essential to democracy because it empowers a community to elect representatives responsible to it and encourages civic involvement. The integrity of the ACC community of interest was violated in the 2011 Redistricting. ACC was severed into pieces and lumped into gerrymandering districts, both at a state and congressional level. Some of the officials elected by these gerrymandering districts have a broad voice of the ACC community and have sometimes acted absolutely contrary to ACC's expressed policies. A specific example of such absolute negation occurred in the spring of 2019. At that time, the duly elected legislative body of ACC, acting within its authority, voted unanimously to eliminate cash bail for the violation of ACC ordinances. In an attempt to defeat this policy, some of the officials of the gerrymandered state districts proposed state legislation to preempt ACC's right and cash bail. Clearly, the intent behind this proposal was to deny the wishes of the ACC community. Seven communities that have been in interest is not how democracy works. In fact, it is toxic to the health of democracy and discourages citizen involvement in government and fosters distrust and disillusionment. I appreciate very much that you are holding these hearings to gather input from the community. I truly hope that you will remove this input to guide your decision-making and to the extent preserve communities of all the communities of interest in Georgia to the extent possible and specifically Athens-Cart County. Thank you very much. Thank you, Ms. Anderson. I would think next followed by Angela Green and then Mary Curlin. Hello. Thank you for the opportunity to speak to Pettus Theron. My name is Otto Kane. I'm a retired speech language pathologist from the Henry County School System. I also co-chair of the Indivisible Georgia District 10. Indivisible Georgia District 10 was founded in January 2017 on the values of inclusion, fairness, respect, and nonviolence. We currently have about 600 members. Our membership represents Georgia's congressional district 10 that spans 25 counties, stretching from Athens-Cart County to Baldwin County and from Gwinnett County to Augusta, over our home bases here in Athens-Cart County. We are here today to focus on the integrity of Georgia's redistricting back-building procedure following the 2020 U.S. Census. Several members will speak in support of a fair, non-artisan redistricting process that creates competitive voting districts and that represents the will of all the voters of Georgia. Our members understand the impact of district voting rights on Georgia's federal, state, and local elections. We volunteer redistricting issues across Georgia and have participated in some of the recent mid-cycle hearings that attempted partisan redrawing of district banks. And we know that both Democrats and Republicans have used redistricting to gain additional seats through calculated gender. That's why we're here. We believe unbiased election integrity will be accomplished through a non-partisan, data-driven, transparent process involving citizen input and expertise of organizations such as Fair Districts Georgia and the Princeton Redistricting Project. Today, several indivisible Georgia District 10 members come before you to enter testimony about Athens-Cart County, about Congressional District 10, and more importantly about sex to improve Georgia's redistricting process. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for seeing Angela Green, please. My name is Angela Green. I'm a retired human resources director and a member of the Indivisible Georgia District 10. I've been in Monroeville, which is an congressional district nine, due to gerrymandering. Although I'm in same county and community of interest with those in District 10, I cannot vote with my vote in the community. The same is true of Athens Tech, which is also a district nine. Athens-Cart County has over 128,000 residents in the smallest county in the state by land mass. Education is a high priority issue in Athens-Cart County, as we are the home of the University of Georgia, which represents almost 25% of our economy. Our population is quite diverse, with 29% black, 11% Hispanic, Latino, 5% Asian, and 63% white. Athens-Cart County was in the 12th congressional district until 2004, when a Georgia legislature folded our urban county into the rural 10th district. A special election in 2007 made our voters the choice between two conservative Republican candidates, and we've been unable to elect a more centrist Congressperson ever since. The 2011 redistricting effort split our county into District 9 and 10. This means Athens-Cart County's voting voice has been diluted and divided. Because many of our elections are not competitive, we experience lopsided election results every two years. The Princeton-Gerrymandering Project's 20-year modeling process reveals that approximately 60% of small towns in cities in Georgia have been systematically gerrymandered. We believe Athens-Cart County, a non-democratic stronghold, has been purposely gerrymandered to dilute our political voice and will. That is why we are speaking out in favor of a fair, transparent, and non-partisan redistricting process, so a new reporting has been damaged. Thank you for the opportunity. Thank you, Mrs. Green. Mary Norwin believes we can talk about Robert Cotey and Jacqueline Ellsworth. First of all, as a lawyer in Cart County, I help people with combing the dance and assuming bankruptcy matters. Like each other member of our group, officials in Georgia, projected to near-constant hearing matters since at least the 2000 census from Democrats involved by Republicans. Hearing matters districts based on criteria and mathematics in favor of one party's candidates over another. Redistricting on state and local levels splits our county into two Senate districts and three House districts. Many of our county's diverse voters have been moved from two House districts into District 118, making districts hacking more Democrats into District 18, making District 117 and 119 much less than heads. In 2006, three districts split our county between Senate districts 46 and 47, thus discouraging competition for these two state Senate districts seats because there are not enough votes for the minority party to ever win, resulting in five cycles of uncontested races between 2008 and 2016. Nationally, it's reported that 35% of state-level races are uncontested. In Georgia, it's reported that 50% of Senate and 52% of House district races are uncontested. Four out of the 56 in Georgia state Senate districts are not considered to be competitive. Uncontested races have far-reaching effects on voters. The President and chair of many projects found that when state races are uncontested, the votes for presidents fall off. In 2020, in ethnic shows, at 275,000 of racists, Georgia voters stayed home in the general election, in districts where there were uncontested state races. With fairly strong district lines, all candidates must compete for public office, which is a very definition of democracy. Thank you. My name is Dr. Robert Covey. I'm a retired psychologist and also a member of the National Joint Committee on District 10, and I've lived in Georgia as my family since 1982, so back on time, I've been living in the state. These hearings provide an opportunity to reform the redistricting system in Georgia. This is the bill I'm going to undertake. We ask that you take two broad steps to build strong and sustained and ten-year redistricting plan that is binding for both Republicans and the Democrats as each party meets this work. First, the redistricting committees must provide meaningful opportunities for voters to learn about the mapping process and to provide input from voters across the state as distinct communities of interest. We ask that redistricting process be transparent. Show your work publicly at every step along the way. We ask you to provide announcements for hearings between television, newspapers, radio, and social media. We ask you to make all hearings public with live and recorded videos for review at any time, and we ask you to publish all criteria used in broad districts and how they are used in the mapping process. We also ask you to publish comprehensible drafts of maps which were devoted to comment on at least two weeks before maps are adopted, taking public comments into consideration. Second, adopt, and this is what we want to redistricting committees to adopt a set of binding independent guidelines for mapping that adhere to non-partisan and objective standards for redistricting no matter which political party draws the maps. Maps should reflect the will of the voters. Develop a set of standards for districts that reflect their political geography based on the most recent census data. Maps should be based on the fair standards that build trust and confidence in the mapping process. Standardizing the redistricting process with best practices, guidelines, and rules will best serve Georgia voters now and into the future. Thank you very much. Thank you Dr. Benjamin. Tackle on Elsa please. Hello, I'm Tackle on Elsa. I'm a retired librarian at the Athens Regional Library, and I'm an energy accountant at the County Library. I was co-founder of the individual Georgia District 10 five years ago. The individual Georgia District 10 urges the House and Senate and District Committee to design a fair and transparent redistricting process that will serve Georgia in perpetuity so the process does not have to be redesigned every 10 years. The process developed must be fair, non-partisan, transparent, and secure. In addition, all yearly the Cyro-Redistrict in effort should be eliminated in Georgia. A district's map should reflect our natural political geography based on the 2020 census Georgia should be represented by candidates they choose. We ask you to consider two ways to achieve fair and honest redistricting reform. First, the first way is for the current House and Senate redistricting committee members to commit to a rigorous set of binding non-partisan standards factors for drawing Georgia's voting districts that are made public. Second, a way is for current redistricting committee members to commit to a single consistent redistricting plan used following every U.S. census that incorporates all of those and guidelines that result in fair unbiased mapping tools and redistricting process. Thanks for listening to us and to others here with the same message. If you could please follow by us. Lisa Tran. Hello, I'm Rikki Krugman and thank you for being in the Atlas Club family. We welcome you here any day, every day. Please help. Hello, I'm Rikki Krugman, I'm past co-chair of the invisible Georgia District 10. I'm retired from Clark County School District as overseeing the gifted ESL immigrant and migrant programs. Today, existing state constitutional standards have not provided for a fair and consistent redistricting process for Georgia voters. Every year legislators redraw redistricting plans that favor the majority party to the demise of Georgia's confidence in elections. In 2011, the following guidelines for both congressional and state legislative districts were agreed upon by redistricting committees but not signed into law and those were a prohibition of multi-member districts, consideration of county-increasing boundaries, compactness, and incorporated communities of interest. Because these were so-called gentlemen's agreements, they were not binding and they have been altered over the years through Jerry Leonard. Indivisible Georgia District 10 asks that you take two broad steps to build a strong, sustained, 10-year redistricting plan that is liberally binding for both Republican Democrats as they lead their work in all coming years. First, adopt binding and legal transparency rules with meaningful opportunities for voters to learn about the mapping process. Encourage input from community across the state regarding their immediate needs as community defenders. Second, adopt a set of binding, legal, independent benchmarks for mapping that include objective, nonpartisan standards for redistricting to be followed by whichever political party draws the maps. And in summary, standardizing and legalizing the redistricting process with binding rules and best practices will best serve Georgia voters in 2022 and beyond with a strong, consistent, predictable, redistricting plan. Now is the time to put redistricting standards into law and in order to build the, excuse me to say that again, now is the time to put redistricting standards into law in order to build back the competence of voters, the integrity and the fairness of our elections. We urge you to put these in law. Thank you. Mr. Lisa Tram, we've followed by Sue Joe and then Samuel Short, please. Hi, good evening. Good evening. My name is Tracy Tram and I am a community organizer with the Asian American Advocacy Fund, a non-profit organization dedicated to building a politically conscious, engaged, and progressive Asian American base in Georgia. Thank you to the Atkins County members and chairs for organizing this town hall. It's good to be back in town after having been away since graduating with a BA and a BS from the University of Georgia as the class of 2021 student speaker for the Mary Frances Early College of Education this past day. I originally grew up and lived in Atkins for four years while attending UGA as an college student. For four years, I called Atkins home and now back here to fight for the home. From 2017 to 2021, I studied English education and had multiple opportunities to teach middle and high school students in Atkins Clark as part of my student teaching program. More specifically, I taught language at Clark Central High School where I interacted with a diverse population of students, including Asian American students, with all the various needs. Raising and leaving their work, I learned that many of my students lacked faith in their capabilities of using their voice to impact their community for the better because they saw no one who looked like them doing the same in this county. I learned that many of my students were not aware of how they could effectively participate in local elections and town halls around contact with local representatives and charity people to push for the kind of change they wanted to see, such as receiving more funding and better, more educated resources for their school because they were deliberately left out of their community conversation. I learned that my students' families were always having to move houses or change schools for their kids or end up in the wrong polling place because the district lines kept shifting. And I learned that my students had no idea that all of this was a direct result of an unfair, unjust, and unrepresentative redistricting process in this county. With these thoughts and thinking heads the next decade, I urged the lawmakers in this county to bring more transparency to this process. I encouraged that drafts of maps be drawn with the general public as soon as possible sessions especially once data is released from the Census Bureau so that everyone from parents to business owners to residents to teachers to students can share their concerns and alternative maps that actually reflect the true makeup of their community and keep their homes, neighborhoods, shopping centers, places of worship, and schools together. And you must be as an outsider as someone who came here to receive education and simply leave. I want to tell you that I deeply invested in this community. I've been saving me in value for years. I've been thoroughly changed and impacted by the business here. I want to come back to fight and ensure that the students I taught in this county and the families I met and the neighborhoods I visited and volunteered at actually stay together and have the power to elect the candidates of their choice rather than letting the candidates choose their voters. Our students, our youth, our children, our county on us to pave the way for them to make a difference. And that starts with increased transparency and accessibility and their district wise. Thank you. So I am coming to the organization of American Advocacy Fund, a nonprofit organization that advocates for federal, state, and local policies that will improve the lives of AAPI and by any grants in Georgia. First of all, I want to thank Ed Denton-Carrie for hosting tonight's event and giving us opportunity to share our stories on this important topic with this tricking process. I am a daughter of Kermit and Amy Grant, and I grew up in one of the 15 counties and right near the border of Whitton County where the most bi-grant Asian American community is formed. As a Korean community organizer during the recent election period, I spoke with more than 300 Korean Americans via community outreach for voter support and assisted more than 20 Korean individuals at the polling places as an election-voting interpreter. Among Korean American voters who are passionate about electing their political representative, some expressed concern that their electoral districts do not really reflect their community's interests and need, and it's just hard to know how to distribute or draw. So they often feel discouraged and do not participate in a local election. As our Asian American population is growing and our communities are expanding in the Trellema, we urge our new districts to reflect the current demographic changes and be better represented to the interests of our communities so we can know that candidates who truly understand and advocate for the needs of our communities. Keeping our communities together is key in redistricting. In Korean American history, we have seen how unrepresentative redistricting badly impacted and factored our communities. For example, during 1990 to social unrest in Los Angeles, Korean Americans in every Korean town suffered disproportionately high economy losses. When residents of Korean town appealed to their elected representative for assistance with the cleanup and recovery efforts, each of the preparatory representative claimed that the area was not really a part of some other, not of their other official district. Because the redistricting manufactured Korean town into foreign city council district and five state assembly district, and as a result, no legislator felt responsible to the Asian American community. No community deserves any political, racial, and economic disadvantages due to unfair, unjust, and unrepresentative redistricting. And we need to make sure that our voices of all community members are heard and our interests are represented in this process to protect and thrive our communities, not to protect the comments and political interests. The fair, transparent, and inclusive redistricting process in Georgia are rolling short in healthy democracy in our country. Thank you. Samuel Schwartz, followed by Jack Warshall. Hello, y'all. Thanks for having me today. I'm, say, short from the life of our resident in Georgia and I'm a student at the University of Michigan. I, the honor to serve as the Interim State Senate this session may recognize me, but I recognize you. One thing that I recognize is the problem without process. The problem with the partisanship and the bills that we put out in the session are not based on our community's interests, are not based on our best constituents, or our base where it is best for our people. I have spent my life in partisan organizing and one thing that I have found is that the parties do not represent the people. As someone who has served as a delegate on my party committee and in different classes in high school organizing to youth organizing, I have seen that partisan action is inaction. If you have continual partisan-tainted processes, you will get a partisan-tainted legislature. If you hack and crack these districts, you, our local-level legislator, hack the people that do not represent that community. Senator Kouser, your district does not represent Athens. It is a split of district that is not fully representative of the city and is meant to diffuse the power of your voters. That is the last thing you should do, any of you, whether you are Democrat or Republican, because yes, that's what you do. That's what I've seen. You will always serve your partisan interests until changes are made where the power is not in your hands. I have not put one person who has spoken today that thinks that this power should be in your hands. I hope that you institute guidelines that will make this process more fair. I truly do. I wish I had as much faith as the Senate speaker. But unfortunately, what I have seen from my involvement in partisan politics is that partisanship serves partisanship. Until you take a change, nothing will change. In 10 years, the shoe may be on the other foot. I hope that I am not sitting here in 10 years making the same remarks. Please, I ask you to consider the fame of your communities, not the fate of your party. Thank you. After a short amount of political science and economic student at the University of Georgia, I'm originally from Dunwoody, Georgia, where I live all my life. I've been fortunate enough to work on numerous campaigns growing up and also being involved in lots of community organizing throughout my time in high school and here in college. My main role at the work on campaigns was canvassing and speaking directly to voters. I've knocked on thousands of doors and engaged with thousands of people and truly been an honor to hear what people think of the democratic process while standing at their doorstep. I've seen how communities are divided. I've driven 20 minutes away to a completely different community where these people who I'm talking to have never been in the same situation, never have been worried about the same issues, yet are still represented by the same person but just as little in common with them as they do with each other. I felt it was like to flip a seat and put a whole district with a target on their back when redistricting comes around at a thread of being dissolved because it doesn't align with the party in power. I've seen this issue not just in Dunwoody but across the state when I moved here to Athens to attend the University of Georgia. I've seen the issues that I've spoken about in my democracy and the constitution class by not protecting communities of interest by cracking and happening. I've seen it all here in Athens and at home. This issue is not centered in one spot. It is widespread because of the process that allows those in power to choose who they represent instead of the other way around. And once these reps are chosen, they should not be under attack from their colleagues simply because they aren't the ones in power. One of the key characteristics of fair reportionment and redistricting are violated in almost every part of the state. You know that it is a systematic effort by those in power which is why does power should not be in your hands and why there needs to be legal safeguards to prevent this from happening no matter which party has the gavel. We must allow communities a clear voice of their issues addressed on their terms and allow their representatives to fight for their interests and not the interests of their party. We must end gerrymandering to make redistricting a fair and transparent process that hopefully will not be political in any way. So thank you. Joseph Williamson please. I'd like to say hello and thank you to the community members for coming to today to listen to the people of Athens and surrounding communities. My name is William Williamson. I've lived in Athens for 14 years and I'm a foundation fellow at UGA. Currently UGA campus is split between Georgia House Districts 117, 119 and 119 in a way that I've walked through all free districts just moving between buses. Even more than this depending on where we live on campus within Clark County we may be sectioned off into different Georgia State Senate or federal house districts with different representatives in different elections. As UGA students we will move into the future to majorly impact change and improve industry and economy both in Georgia and nationally. We are fractured in representing and electing our representatives. Even more UGA professors and faculty and anyone who might take classes from or parents of my friends stay in Athens before permanently. The students who are and they are also broken up by the great shifting of Clark County. With better districts our residents could vote for representatives who prioritize issues specific to Athens like the USG system, public transportation, arts and green space, public education, programs for homeless citizens and many other issues that are distinct from those in other communities that we share issues with. The current districts are a service to most students and our residents preventing both sets of voters from easily organizing for important priorities by splitting and unnecessarily creeping the this unique community our elections and representation are diluted by more rural regions that are very different from Clark County in many ways. The result of this is that both the clients around the areas we can't pressure our representatives for an issue on behalf of the needs of our district because those needs they differing by birth because of the way that they're drawn. In the upcoming redistricting process I asked that you enable Clark County to have districts that prioritize the needs of our community. Democracy is effective because our representatives are meant to advocate for the needs of their constituents. I hope that you let the redistricting process make this true with the constituents living in Athens by county. Please prioritize the unity of UGA campus in the level of state house districts and the union of Clark County on all of those decisions too. Thank you so much. Next speaker will be Adam Shirley followed by Kayla Hain and D'Angelo Sucingi. Mr. Shirley, it's nice to have you come to visit us. Yes ma'am. I'm Madam Chair, Mr. Chair and other members of the committee who are here in the legislature. Thank you for coming and thank you for listening to our concerns. My name is Adam Shirley and I'm a middle school teacher living out by what used to be the varsity may rest in peace. I have the honor of corresponding with many of you over email and meeting with several human persons. I'm not asking you to succeed where many of us have failed. To be clear, I'm not disputing what we have the right to do or what is fair to do. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled last year that you have the right to draw the mask. Part of that you please as the virtue right by virtue of winning election. So that's not something I'd like to ask you about. But I'm asking you to do what you can to end the vicious cycle. For decades, our state government in both democratic and republican hands has consistently drawn that districts are strongly favored one party. I'm not just saying the Democrat controlled government through only Democrat districts. It's that each party has sort of drawn safe districts for one party or another. This has left many Georgiaans feeling as though they're not represented in the government. A couple of examples. One of the republics has represented Southwest Cobb County in the House since 2010 and has never had an opponent. Another colleague represented almost all of Hall County in the Senate since 2010 and has had zero opponents. This is true of many of your companies, both democratic and republican, although many more of them are republicans than democrats. I ask you to consider that this is a failure of representative democracy and our representative of the republic. Suppose a citizen of Howard Springs wants to run as a republican. Suppose a voter in Gainesville wants to see someone who represents their democratic values running for the legislature. For both of those people and for tens of thousands of others of us, for the last 10 years or more it has been hard to convince them that their vote reading matters. You have the power to change this. Please maximize the number of competitive districts. By competitive, I mean what some of us call prospects. Something a district that could go either way because just about as many democrat-leading voters are in the district as republic and leading voters. I know that both state parties have highly refined algorithms for drawing, you know, truth of candidacy maps for this and I trust that the office that works for you has the same resources. Excuse me, you have the power and the ability to do this. By maximizing the number of competitive districts, you accomplish two very important things. First, you give more people the freedom to fairly compete for office. As it stands now, many Jordans only have one candidate seeking to represent them in our government because our district puts so many of our one political party in favor of so many of our districts. People who might aspire to office simply don't try because their district makes fair competition impossible. Notice I'm not naming a party here because both ways have passed for decades. Maximizing the number of competitive districts will restore this competition. Second, you provide candidates and incentives to represent all their constituents, not just their party's base, but our current maps for far too many contests. The candidate focuses on their base and ignores anyone who's too far from their base because in too many cases, their base is all they need during the election. By maximizing the number of competitive districts, you ensure that we elect more legislators whose ideas and rhetoric resemble all Jordans, not just the far left or the far right of each major party. I completely understand that you and your colleagues would prefer to represent safe districts where someone like the two legislators I mentioned earlier would remain uncontested. This would mean that they wouldn't have to put in the blood, sweat, tears, and lots and lots of money to run a contested election for us. There's a strong natural temptation to draw maps that create these safe districts. Please resist this temptation. For one thing, it's not fair that those of you who do have to run contested elections. Our Jordans benefit from each one as an equal shot at each of the legislators. You and you alone have the power to maximize the number of competitive districts. Thank you very much for your time, Brigitte. We're after with Kane, and here's Sifici, and then Barbara Beach. Hello, thank you everyone for being here today. My name is Cara Kane, and I'm a day research analyst who is in the Permanente Law Center's W. Rice Group. The S.K.L.C. is a not-a-pocket, not-a-person organization dedicated to uploading the content on the right of all citizens to vote. I am a registered voter, and I can't believe they didn't have county. To have these hearings be heard, key terms like fairness, care and angering, and use of interest, and transparency. Today, I'm here to tell a short story of how interesting that it's not only political power and resources for the next decade, but also the lives of young people whose voices are often without a process. Not too many years ago, I moved from Florida to Louisville, a city split between Baltimore and Brunei County. My family lived on both inside, so I moved to Louisville High School. My first day of school was as traumatizing as the next four years would be. Rice's teachers, students, and the spread of our white supremacy filled the halls of my high school. I couldn't count on two hands the number of fellow students who were not white in my class, 10 people or less. My second grade was soccer. It was only when we played the other school week in our county that I realized that the county did indeed have a significant population of folks who didn't look like me. It was in that moment that I knew the lines were off. I think I realized how those lines were drawn into my older. As I mentioned earlier, my work is in voting rights. My experience at high school along with my personal story about the suppression of the current governor, Kim, has led me to do the work that I currently do. As it often does, my lived experience is matched up with the data at the time. For example, the year I graduated according to our department of education, my high school comprised of 6.8 percent of black students and approximately 87 percent of white students, even though the county consisted of 50 percent of black population during the same time. 87 percent. Almost nine or ten students in my high school were white. Let that sink in. Almost 90 percent. Meanwhile, the only other high school of the time consisted of 40 percent black students. As a young person trying to figure out the world, reducing lines through the high school experience that was far from my field, even after all these years, I get that inside and drive with the Walt County, something that I try to avoid knowing the experiences I run through. I share my story today to emphasize how important it is, not for political power, not to ensure a dollars free election, but for the young people who saw the consequences of this process. We should want our young people to be exposed to people who look different and who welcome people who come from different backgrounds than ours. Otherwise, we create a culture that makes Jim Crow 2.0 easier than ever, where distressing has consequences. Thank you. I'm D.U.C. H.U. and I'm a former public school attorney in Clark County and a writer here in Athens. I'm here to speak in favor of drawing at the global redistribution maps, maps that represent Georgia's and its significance. Since I moved here in 1984 to Atlas Clark County, which is the smallest county in Georgia, it's been redistributed twice. Currently, we have three state senators and two state reps, when a population where our home village should have just two state senators and one state rep. Growing up, I was taught that representative government is what we have here in America. Now as an adult, I recognize as an actuality, it's never been realized. I'm letting you here to please draw maps that represent Georgia's fair maps because fair maps that are non-partisan because political Germany and Great is not at the core and they delete the voice of the people and what I'm asking you is to listen to the young people that are spoken and think about the young people that are not here to speak because the decisions that are made now are going to impact the future and I really do appreciate you listening to us. Thank you. Barbara Leach and then Chris Bruce and then after Mr. Bruce, we have Johnny Cusimano. Good evening and thank you for the opportunity to testify. I'm Barbara Leach. I live in Atlanta in the Fifth Duke Congressional District, State Senate District 36 and House District 59. However, I come from a long line of Georgia with the ruins in Versailles, Cobb and Fayette counties, so it won't surprise you when I tell you that we have a lot of political differences in our family and those conversations are not comfortable. I appreciate your willingness to listen to uncomfortable conversations and I appreciate that your task is a challenging one but I firmly believe that we all deserve fair representation. We deserve a transparent redistricting process which is open to public scrutiny. We deserve to have you listen when we talk about our communities and our common local interests. We want you to show us your work and allow more public access to the process and very importantly we need independent non-partisan benchmarks to show us that the 2021 maps reflect voters' preferences and provide adequate minority representation because I believe that we all deserve fair representation. I'm a member of Fair History Georgia, a non-partisan organization working to promote fair maps and as others have mentioned today we partnered with the Princeton Jerry Andrew Project to produce independent benchmarks but so far we haven't been able to share our work with the Full House and Senate committees as part of the official record and I really appreciate your opening comments here which because we agree with you that submission should be through the portal on the Georgia General Assembly website but as other speakers have noted the comments link on the website is designed for plain text comments to share our work we need a portal that allows attachments thus far we present our findings to small group of legislators and as you can tell from some of the previous comments this evening we also shared it with the public in town hall meetings and on our website. Today we've actually brought our copies for the committee chairs and we'll be happy to make the presentation available to anyone else who asks however we do believe that transparency and openness with public scrutiny are best served by submission to the official record through the General Assembly website and therefore we ask you the committee chairs to make submission of more complex documents as attached to us through that website possible. Thank you very much for your time and attention. And then after that Barry Sanders. Chair Rich, Chair Kennedy, my friends of the legislature, it's good to see you healthy and well today in Athens Park County. Members of the audience, thank you for being here. Thank you for being active in your community. Thank you for voicing these concerns to this legislature. A lot of times people do not speak up for themselves especially the things that happen in their community. This is one of the most critical times that you will ever have when it deals with the voting process redistributed once every 10 years. And now they are here in your hometown talking about how the lines will be drawn. So thank you. My name is Chris Bruce. I'm the political director of the American Civil Liberties Union in Georgia. I'm sorry, I should have started with that. Happy to be here. Happy to see everyone here as well. And to start off, making sure that everyone knows A.C. firmly believes that the right to vote is one of the most sacred civil liberties unions that we enjoy as Americans. We can all agree on that. And today I'm going to talk about what's been happening in Athens Park County and the change that's been happening. If you heard from us before in the A.C.R.U. it's because we have spoken at the last five meetings and we plan on speaking at all six further meetings as well because we are in A.C.R.U. Georgia, not the A.C.R.U. put lines up or the A.C.R.U. call us. We want to make sure that all Georgia's have their rights to vote. To be heard. When the Athens Park County, the amount of growth and diversity has tremendously changed. So to start off, let's make sure we get the numbers right. Looking at the demographic growth in the area, the Asian voting age population and the white voting age populations have both grown by nearly six percent. The Hispanic voting age population has grown by almost 16 percent. And the black voting age population has grown by almost 19 percent. So overall the people of color of voting age population in the greater Athens community has grown by just under 18 percent. When I say the Athens greater community, I mean Clark Madison, Akoni, and Old Fort County. These demographic changes must be in maps that reflect the diversity of the greater Athens area to ensure that these voters of color have the same opportunity to elect candidates as other people in the Athens majority. So we know Georgia has had a history of disenfranchising people of color. Let's be honest about this. And to ensure everyone's sacred right to vote is protected, the maps that legislate to draw must be fair. Fair maps require making sure that the people of color have a voice in this process and that growing diversity of the greater Athens area is adequately reflected in any resulting maps that you ultimately create. So the decisions made during this redistribution process will impact, like I said before, the lives of the greater Athens area and countless Georgians for the next 10 years or possibly more. This is a tremendous responsibility for the legislature. It is of the utmost importance that this body work diligently and transparently to ensure that people of color have a voice in this process because democracy advances. Personally, I am a proud graduate of the University of Georgia School of Law for Dogs. And I always love coming back to Athens area. These are a group of people who have a tremendous heart when it comes to everyone in this community. I used to work at Georgia Legal Services Program where I worked with Black and people who came to vote. Now with respect to time, what Andy was saying that Athens Park County School ranks as one of the lowest-income counties in the nation and we need to make sure that when they're drawing out they have a chance to be led somebody who will speak up for them in their meetings all together. Thank you. I'm Mary Sanders and then Baron Stacer. Good evening and thank you for allowing us to speak to you all this evening. I've been one of those transplanted Yankees that came here and fell in love with Georgia that you're over 30 years now. I particularly appreciate some of the young people and their powerful message of wanting to be able to see change instantly. That's something that if I grew up in an age that my life does not take place with a heart. But I sincerely hope that this community, this community here leads the way in the legislation and the changes that are needed to make this more fair for all of the states in Georgia. Particularly for this community, I moved here three years ago thinking that I was moving from my community to the rest of the area only to discover that everything is split in so many ways that there's not a chance in H-E-L-L to get anything done the needs and needs of what I believe in and hope for. This is a small community. I hope that you will support that. Representative Comster, I sincerely hope so that you get this done correctly. That you win my district and I support the citizens vote for you. What do you mean by that? And in fact, that you are the district that does not represent us. But the way you spread out right now, there's no chance. Did you ever have a preview or a word similar in your party with nine members of this community? And that's just not much. So I ask in all respect that you draw a community that very represents the people of Athens and Clark County and that is doable for you. That's great and it's not. That's me too. My name is Mr. Darius Anders followed by Eric Dacer and then Gareth Penley. Good evening and I'd like to start by thank you members of the community for taking the time to hear this public comment. And thank you Senator for giving up your seat. I've never had a senator who was inside the meeting before. My name is Barry Sanders. I live in the 130th state house district in the 10th congressional district. More specifically, the 39th voting precinct that we had counted. In the last redistricting decade ago, the 39th and the 135th voting precinct that I decreed were separated from the rest of our community and placed in the 130th state house district rather than in the 98th. In our community, we share the same zip code, the same city name, the same high school, secretary high school, which I'll just later share. And more importantly, we share similar interests, common problems and common values more aligned with our 98th state house district makers more than our current other and third. Tonight, I represent my neighbors at these two precincts to respectfully ask this committee to consider reuniting the 39th and the 135th voting precincts with the 98th state house district and the 7th congressional district. This would form a more natural eastern boundary with Interstate 85 and the whole category to the north. Thank you for hearing how you address and your consideration on this matter. That is Aaron Stacer, followed by Gareth Fenley, and then Don Arthoff. Hello. Thank you for coming here tonight to hear us. My name is Anne Stacer. I'm a mom of story school teacher here in Athens. I've been here since 2011, but I'm born and raised in Georgia. And I'm not going to miss out on some of the speakers you can inform, but I'm happy to join many of them in asking for a redistricting process that is done with nonpartisan integrity and that our mouths are drawn with fair representation in democracy. As has been said many times, Athens is an area of geographic small county in Georgia, but we are chopped up into three state houses represented in seats and two state senate seats. And if the districts were to be drawn along logical lines, Athens would actually be more accurately represented by two house seats and one state senate seat. My hope is that our state legislature will care more about the monetizing power than it does in partisan victories or political careers. I also want to ask that the general assembly listen to our local government and the local redistricting. Our local officials here, they live here, they interact with us more. They know what our communities are asking for, so please be respectful of their recommendations when it comes to local redistricting. And then finally, I also want to address that this this whole process right now really means an overhaul. Redistricting as a, I'm going to quote the organization Fair Boat, encourages manipulation of elections. And right now we have officials who will likely be incumbents drawing and citing the districts in which the state will be running. And how can the public possibly trust this process? We need to look into having independent communities, commissions, the competitive districts, any of that. Many of these things have been implemented in other states. And I'm just asking that we do it here in my state. If I don our law and then fill this project. Oh senators and representatives, I'm there friendly. I can't really see you in the back row there. I'm way down here. I haven't rehearsed my speech. I'm going to skip everything that I jotted down that is repeating what everybody else said. My name again is Gareth Welley. I've been a resident of Georgia since 1989, except a few years in South Carolina. I earned a master's degree at the University of Georgia, Go Dogs. Together with with my wife, I own a home and two rental properties in the northern Wall County. I do understand the anxiety that the young person spoke about driving through Wall County in the town of Monroe where I reside. It was only two years ago that the Confederate battle flags came down that were at each of the main entrances to our city on the sons of Confederate veterans signed with a phone number to call. City of Monroe, Wall County. I'm currently assistant director of the Economic Justice Coalition. Mason Atkins and helping with bond cards and voter registration across 13 counties, Walton, Gerro, Jackson, Banks, Madison, Hart, Elbert, Oglethorpe, Green, Hancock, Morgan, Coney, and here in Clark County. I don't like public speaking. It makes me nervous. I have been helping people speak up and be counted since before I could vote and started Girl Scouts. Democracy is my fashion. It just is. I, too, was one of those pages of the legislation. Make a good count by drawing fair maps that don't split groups. Oh, I was even hearing only like the vast majority of the people in this room tonight. I am white. The population of this room does not accurately reflect the population of this county or this region of Georgia. Yes, I'm here talking about white supremacy. And racism. It's your responsibility, senators and representatives to represent all the people, not just those who are here, not just those who were able to get here with transportation and time off and access to information, the belief that their vote would make a difference. Let's make sure that the people of color have a fair chance at the polls to elect representatives of their choice. I've seen it projected that within the next five years, changes in the population of Georgia will result in people like me, white, non-Hispanic residents becoming a minority. We need to embrace this change in a peaceful, fair, and democratic transition. We give up white supremacy. And I have faith we can do it. I do have that faith. Throughout my life, and especially since I moved to Walton County in January 2018, I've been warned. I've been warned that it is literally dangerous to stand up for justice, especially racial justice, which I believe is the most pressing issue facing our country today. The most recent warning came a week ago from a neighbor I never met who jumps me, at least he knows of me. I told that man the same thing I will say here, and my greatest protection is to stay open and public. Anyone who harms me because he hates my cause will only advance my cause. I think some of you understand the depth of commitment that you're willing to sacrifice your life for something more important. I know many of you do. Let this be the end of white supremacy in Georgia. Thank you. I am, and then I have Gabriella Ski. Good evening. I thank you all for this opportunity, what I saw, and other than Atlanta, where I attended a recent hearing at the Capitol, and I know no mention during that evening of a particular type of germ management that I want to bring to the committee's attention today. We have 55,000 residents in Georgia's 34 prisons that are counted by the census to the residents of the county where they are incarcerated. This prison gerrymandering impacts local counties such as Hancock, which reports 14 percent of the total population is actually in prison. We're cut to 14 percent. Pat were carried to 60 percent. But by another measure, if we look at the second congressional district, that includes 10,296 prisoners in the county, which is a large number. That's like, hey, bad, I need 10,000 votes. You got them? Give us one. So of course those people, they can't vote in our state like they can in other states, but if you're interested in Georgia or if you have a felony conviction, you can vote. But what this gerrymandering does is it greatly dilutes the community of interest of that incarcerated person, whose children and family are in miles away, hours away. And they don't get the benefit of that person in the census count, where they lived and worked and where they are willing to return, they don't have a voice. So that has a basic effect on, of course, some of the larger urban areas like Atlanta, and the counties surrounding those cities, but also rural counties such as Buds, lose a good number of their population into the void of the prison system. So I'm urging you to look to take a serious look at the laws that other states have passed that will correct this gross inaccuracy. And there's been many references to the Princeton gerrymandering project, which have a lot of information on state legislation that's changed to take these inaccuracies into a count, and more than 200 counties have changed their policies so that they can more correctly interpret the census data. Hopefully, and I'm looking to make this recommendation, the 2030 census will record the home address of incarcerated people. So even though their names do not be able to vote in Georgia, at least they will, but their personal hood will be taken into a count. We'll have accurate census count. On San Mate, we can no longer look to the Supreme Court to protect our name, it's really hard to view to this committee into a general assembly. The hard world is watching Georgia's elections. We're also watched internationally as a state with some of the most horrific, dangerous, and inconvenient prisons ever. These households cost us more than one billion dollars a year. Those inside have no war, so we really must vote for them. Count them as human beings, they didn't count as human beings and they didn't treat them as human beings. Thank you. Ryan, followed by Hannah, there's a small blessing, and then Kat has a little committee. My name is Phyllis Bryant, and I've been a resident of Decatur Georgia for 29 years, a leader of the National Action Network in Atlantic Georgia, and the Georgia Coalition of People Agenda. I like Donald, I want to bring attention to how the census count incarcerated people in the county where they are in prison. We need accurate maps that reflect the real community of interest, and we need transparency so the public can see these maps. Comment on them before they are finalized. Prison, gerrymandering, and accurately, reports 55,000 people and includes them in the county where they are in prison. This is not how democracy should work. Be honest and transparent on how the lines are grown. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. All the best, Kat and I, and then Carol Myers. Good evening, everyone. My name is Hannah Joy Geverson. I'm a proud product of Georgia. I'm really honored to be here today. Good evening to everybody in the audience as well. Right now we're experiencing something very important in Georgia. I think we all know that otherwise we wouldn't be here today. Many of us wouldn't be back to these hearings to testify a second time, a third time, to protect our democracy, to defend voting rights, and to protect communities across this nation. As I mentioned, while I am a product of Georgia, specifically the Kat County and Lynette County, I didn't get a chance to visit and several times throughout my upbringing. I was a student at Georgia Tech and I had many friends that attended BGA, so there was a really nice, sweet bond there. But when I would come, I would notice that every year it would become more and more and more diverse. You look around right now, drive through town, you see Mediterranean restaurants that weren't there 10 years ago. 10 years later, we are at a different Georgia than we were 10 years ago. So it's our duty, it's our responsibility to show up and to create maps that accurately reflect the new Georgia that we're living in. I think many of us can attest that when we walk through our own neighborhoods, whether you're in Athens or Atlanta or somewhere in the South part of the state, it's a different Georgia than it was 10 years ago. So what are you going to do? What are we going to do to act together to create maps that are fair, that are just, that are equitable, and that reflect the democracy that we live in? I want to call on a direct attention to something at a point that was made earlier. We didn't notice that you all expanded testimony to four minutes today, which I certainly was logical or been doing. But we also recognize that this is our first amendment, right? We have the right to be here to express our voices and not be limited, not be giving a time limit that we know will not allow us to accurately convey our messages. So while I do applaud you for taking that step, I also want to remind everyone here that that is our first amendment and our democracy that we all are acting. I'll make a point real quick as well. While we here are given the four minutes to speak up and speak out, our colleagues and our friends down the street in Greensboro, right now, at a Greensboro City Council meeting where your colleague, very flunging service as a city attorney, the mayor there has silenced public comment. That's right, the mayor has silenced public comment in Greensboro, Georgia right now at the City Council meeting. And that is not fair. That is not acceptable. You all as leaders have an obligation to defend Georgia and our voices across the state, whether it's here in this meeting or whether it's at a City Council meeting in Greensboro. And how do you do that? By allowing people to elect the people who will serve them, by allowing people to elect people who will address their concerns and truly protect our communities. I also want to note that earlier when you all opened up this season Town Hall today, you mentioned that at some point you all will adopt, redistricting principles and guidelines. What will these principles and guidelines represent? Ask yourself that question right now. Can you answer that question? What core values will be embedded in these principles and guidelines that will impact millions of Georgians for the next decades and beyond? Will there be integrity? Will there be ethics? Will there be fairness? Will there be representation? Will there be democracy? Because we need all those values and more embedded in our state and the future of our country. Thank you. During this moment in time, it is much like our own dynamic and complex bodies, we do not expect you to be perfect or we do expect you to be perfectly fair. The actions of the majority party in our state legislature, from the establishment of a committee on election integrity, when the security of their seats were threatened by the actual integrity of their constituents, to the refusal to conduct either a racial or a fiscal analysis on a now federally contested voter suppression role they rushed through world chambers, are like those children behind a trench coat stacked on one another's shoulders trying to seem tall. With the particularly Napoleonic nature of stripping women's certification from the Secretary of State and granted into themselves, it would seem the GOP is not interested in governing at all, but rather in total control. Considering the lack of transparency in this redistricting process, as well as the total disregard for people with disabilities and for people who speak any language other than English, I've come here today to remind those who who repress the vote and not to include us all, that you are not elected to exclusively represent yourselves. The very foundation we fund all of the racist policy they want and the Supreme Court may decimate the Voting Rights Act to dust, but the people of Georgia are done watching black voters be disenfranchised or otherwise brutalized by the state in any fashion. The people will not stand for it. You are elected to be restless for the voice of the people and perhaps the time has come for the legislature to regain that focus and to rely on a politically independent redistricting commission less the people pay the price for your partisanship. But today it is the legislature's job to do the right thing, bearing in mind that census figures cannot be finessed into Trumpian propaganda and that according to the ACL, usually a breakdown of the price census, Athens like the rest of Georgia is growing more diverse every year. I urge those of you who have not legislated accordingly to rectify your wrongs in this redistricting process. People's lives depend on it. I live here in Athens, Georgia. I've been here since 1984 and spent my career teaching and working as dean here at Athens Technical College. I welcome all of you here. Thank you for being here and I thank all of my fellow Canadians in Georgia for speaking up tonight. I'm a county commissioner now in my retirement, representing District 8 on the east side of Athens. A month ago, I attended a leadership institute run by the County Government Association of Georgia. During that training, we had to identify three values that represented who you are as administrators. Mine were service, equity, and integrity. Tonight I urge you to embrace those values as you withdraw political districts to Georgia. Remember the behind your work is your service to the citizens of Georgia to create a structure, a non-journ and a structure that enhances the democracy that governs our state. What it means that your girl is to create districts that give voice to all Georgians no matter their political party, their race, ethnicity, religion, gender, and more. And integrity means they will emphasize fairness, justice, transparency, and honesty in both the work and the product of the redistricting process. Ten years ago, districts were created that basically drew state senate and represented in districts here in Athens, as well as, of course, our congressional district that lead me as well as over 70% of the opinions who voted as Democrats unrepresented in the state capital and in Congress in Washington. Each December, my five or four nine commissioners and mayor, all Democrats and regressors meet with the five state representatives, three in the assembly, two in the senate. We share with them local legislation issues that we want them to address on the state level. Four of our five representatives are Republicans. For the most part, they do not advance the legislation that we ask them to represent. And sometimes even before legislation, everyone's counter to the will of a local government. If I had been, if I had worked for office 20 years ago, I would be represented now by three Democrats in state government. Right now, I'm just in by urging you to give Athens back a voice in Atlanta and in Congress as well. Thank you. Thank you, Ms. Myers, Zachary Perry, all of my job, all of you. Thank you all so much for coming out here. For those of you with a shorter drive, for those of you who might have a longer drive, I do appreciate it. I also appreciate members from all the coming out. I'd like to start first off by taking a slide issue with something that you said, saying we all have to be right to parts and gerrymandering. The local courts have actually said that parts and gerrymandering is a violation of equal protection. The new show of the common cause just said that it's not just a political question that the courts aren't going to get into. So you're not the right one, but you do have the ability. So you do have that ability and I'm here to tell you why you probably shouldn't do it. I'm going to ask you to listen to myself and the other public speakers here as well as the spoke across the state. So the first reason is personal gerrymandering often is found in the state of Georgia. These are bad governments. I have lived in Athens for seven years, but I am from Harrison County. Harrison County is a very rural part of Georgia and I recognize that the interests of Harrison County are significantly different than the interests of Athens Park County. But if you have a representative like our commercial representative that represents both, there's a conflict. I also ran for city district 26. Senator Gaston, I'm really sorry that you're very involved in all of these comments, but here we are. So it's a good reputation of districts where constituents are often conflicting my conflicting interest. So if you have rural districts or rural court precincts, those constituents are going to have often conflicting interests with urban areas. The goal of partition and the goal of the Chinese district lines is that both of those voices are heard and debated in the issues of law. Now what we have is districts that are robbing the urban voters of their voice to have their concerns heard that have their needs met and to have those issues debated on. So when you see this, Commissioner Myers mentioned the passing year, the local commission will ask local legislators to come out and give them a wish list of things they would like to see in session. The vast majority of the time these wish lists are presented, local representatives often don't show up and that's because most of them don't need to. They don't need the votes of Athens during campaign, during past campaigns, local Republican representatives don't show up to speaking events in Athens because they don't need to. They don't need to listen to us, they don't need to listen to us because they're based outside of Athens. That is robbing them of the opportunity to hear our concerns whether they agree with us or disagree with us as constituents, at least they'll have the right to be heard. And that right is not being exercised because they have no decision to decide. So I want to wrap up and say thank you again for coming out, thank you again for giving us this opportunity to be heard and I want to express on a measure of hope. I hope that this is not a performative exercise, that this is not something that you are doing so that you can point to it later and say look this will be all and then do what you planned on doing the entire time. Followers should become the cause myself and many other provisions kind of related ourselves to another ability that our districts are going to be chopped up and we obviously won't be heard. So it's my hope that you take the consideration we've heard here where you're here across the state and you prove us wrong and you give the voters of this state the voices that they deserve and under the constitution they didn't have the right to. Thank you everyone. I'm Harry John-Alla, I'm a pretty man of the communities and my name is John-Alla and I'm an emeritus professor of mathematics and education from the University of Georgia. I'm also an immigrant to the USA. I immigrated in 1975 into Georgia and I've lived in after the Spock County since 1996, that's 35 years. I became a citizen of the United States in 1995 so that I could participate in the democratic process in this country. I was being taxed as a immigrant and I thought I should get some representation. Really I was here to say everything was already been said so I'll cut it very short. When I first voted in this county I was voting for people who represented my community. They were part of the community. They lived in this community and they represented our families. That is not the case now except for two years ago when we had special elections and I could again vote for two people who lived in my community and had shared my values. Those of course had big targets but on their back and I randomly defeated it in the next election. As an mathematics educator I went out some numbers that really do point to where Athens Spock County is. It was a metropolitan urban district and the state house districts for equal, in Europe, desire to get equal representation, equal numbers caused the 59,000 violence between the residents in each of the house districts. That's a nice number because Athens Spock County has just over 120,000 and it makes a lot of sense for that to be two house districts instead of three house districts that are combined with majority rural and Republican areas. So please do that and make this again representing a community of interest which has been everyone that's still talked about and being one of the most important aspects of it is if the community affords. Thank you. Peter Holt. I've all got Christian Dent and then Emma Verrall. My name is Peter Holt. I'm the card and research scientist of the USDA and a resident of Litterville as well as Clark County. With that kind of history process, I would like to provide input on the decision making regarding further district lines. I'm finding that in 2011 Clark County is the smallest county in Georgia and since it's essentially got cut in half with regards to congressional and state senate districts and thirdly regards to state council districts. This in fact is the leader of the board of boarders of this county and in most of the districts and that's the science and web courses the citizens of Clark County would have in slightly more than percent of this and how much you work. Now I know the previous industry has been had a positive but a particular value of power when it comes to Democrat. Our state deserves better and needs to change and the new Democratic Committee needs to be very much created specifically to strengthen the political bias as possible and decisions made are women and transparent. But final round should be made a better way in the moment with sufficient time to allow for evaluation and comment. We'll stop this every 10-year variable day and give a tour of voters red voice in the political process. Thank you. Thank you Mr. Hall. Christian Tantz please. Hello my name is Christian Tantz. I'm a red and high school senior in Henry County just after now and I currently serve as the 77th governor of the state of Georgia elected by our 300 board of high schools under the board of senator civilian engagement formally affiliated with the Georgia State White Club. I represent correctly the interests and voices of Georgia youth and high schoolers and one thing is clear that we are engaged. I think we can all see that by night hearing. We're engaged in our government, our political process and our communities. As young people we've contributed significantly to the recent political shifts included that our interests deserve to be heard. With all due respect to this committee I find it redundant and the same politicians who were run for these seats in 2022 are now in terms of our own districts and picking up voters in the process of tearing their community's interests for political power. I appreciate both chairman Kennedy and chairman Richards' apparent concern and desire to hear from foreign citizens on their interest in community needs retained to redistribute but Georgia deserves more than a life to plead with politicians to not tear and enter our districts. One of the citizens of Georgia really is structural redistricting reform not simply to be listened to without action an independent redistricting commission or citizens commission is directly needed as a lot of partisan and fair wage to our districts in Georgia free from corrupt political power gaps and personal interests. Eight states both liberal and conservative are already implemented and redistributed processes completely separate from the state legislature as it should be. Unfortunately Georgia citizens cannot give resolutions on a ballot simply by collecting signatures as in other states so the power is in the state legislature's hands. In 2019 House of Revolution 69 and Senate Revolution 52 were introduced to the committee to bring about nonpartisan redistricting but chairman Senator Matt Brass didn't even bring it up for a committee vote. It's time to stop worrying about your next elections and bring about structural nonpartisan redistricting for all foreign citizens regardless of political affiliation. Democrats did in 2001, Republicans did in 2011 and are we're back with Assembly again. So I think we're going to start great and we're fed up with your manner. Thank you very much. My name is Emma Farrell and I'm a current resident of Athens-Clarke County as well as a student at the University of Georgia. The city of Athens is a special place that means so much to so many people. However the people I call the city of Athens have been disadvantaged by their government. Communities have been denied fair representation as a result of partisan divisions in the district. As it comes time for legislators to consider and redraw the state's districts to determine the totality of representation I implore them to keep communities together so they can make effective research particularly in the face of shifting to the better place. It's essential for the needs of the people to be prioritized over the motives that may drive partisan generator. Despite their office here, Athens-Clarke County has a 50, Athens-Clarke County's 50% poverty rate is the highest in the state of Georgia. One in four Athens children living in poverty. Additionally, Athens-Clarke County falls behind the rest of Georgia on educational measures including graduation rate, drop-out rate, and test scores. Clearly there are significant structural problems that affect this community. Residents lack proper representation as Athens is currently divided into several districts supporting the city. This divide just allows effective and equitable representation in Americans. The community of Athens deserves better. I ask legislators to consider the needs of the community as a whole rather than continuing with the current division. Athens deserves a unified district with a leader that knows and understands the needs of its residents. Thank you. Thank you so much for being here and the ability to speak. I am a family king here in 1700 that did call county Darien at 1735. I was raised on the St. Sinai News I saw systemic racism as a small problem and I worry that our government is still based in systemic racism. I am so shallow to find out that there is no transparency in the district in process that it's done behind closed doors. There is no federal or state guidance, no rules, and I am concerned, I know the Democrats have done it, and I'm concerned that if it is not transparent, if it is not taken out of the shadows, we will never fix this. Thank you. Junior, and then Florida, by the way. My name is Julie Footeer. I'm an incoming freshman at the University of Georgia and a leader of various civic creation and voter engagement issues my community. Now, we all know the University of Georgia, one of our state's nationally renowned public universities whose graduates go on to bring innovation, jobs, and growth for our states. Students like me, UGA, and schools across our state are the future of Georgia. Yet, in Athens and on UGA's campus, we are unable to advocate for ourselves or our interests as students because we are divided between not two but three state house districts and two state senate districts. The list of unique needs we have as students and residents in Athens is long, from access to public transit and sustainable practices to something as fundamental as funding for our schools. All of these issues are unique and means that we deserve the representation. But as young people entering our democracy for the first time, during and during teachers young people are much more distraught than Western. When young people's voices and their first four ways into our political system are surgically undermined so that it's impossible for them to achieve real representation, it arose their faith that their voices matter. It undermines the very belief that holds our democracy together. Now, I drove that beer all the way from Atlanta after getting back from multi-day car trip from visiting my family because I know that the decisions that the students make will determine how my classmates, how I and my classmates will be represented for the next decade. The decisions you all make on this honorable committee will determine whether I as a young person, at one of our states renowned public universities, will be able to choose my representative or whether a state legislature will be able to choose me. As a student and on behalf of the rising generation of Democratic citizens, I implore you all to assure that Athens and UGA have a fair, continuous and represented mass. Thank you. I am the senator of the states of McGorrey-Bomber and the minority leader of the Judges State Senate. And I guess you're wondering why am I speaking today? Well, I have talked to many constituents in the 55th district, who can't do that. And they asked me, are you going to speak for us? Because we can't be there. And I said, yes. And we're all going to have a little concern that these hearings seem like a check box that are going to be distributed in broadcasts. It's time, however, for being held even before we get the census data. And I appreciate all of the comments that we're getting. We need to hear this. If you think he's saying something twice or saying something that someone else has said, it's okay because we need to hear it more than one time. These funds are still not offering language and translation options. Mr. Chair and Madam Chair, we need to have that by all audiences. I wish that all of you could know all of the members of this joint committee. One person said, I can't even see you on the back row. Well, they'll never know me. Fair and broad maps are crucial to ensure that every Jordan broke out equally. Fair maps are important. One, a transparent redistricting process. Two, more public input once maps are drawn. And three, it empowers historically disenfranchised communities. The creation of fair maps requires meaningful opportunities to consider public input. The current process does not need this critical standard. Jordan has experienced a significant new rapid shift over the past 10 years. The black population in Jordan has grown by 14 percent, the ocean population has grown by 40 percent, and the Hispanic population has grown by 26 percent. While the white population has grown by 2 percent, the maps that we adopt during the 2021 legislative session must reflect the changing face of Jordan and the needs of historically disenfranchised folks to have a voice. As Jordan evolves, ensuring that Jordan's uncover reflected among our elected representatives required that we conduct the redistricting process transparently. Too often, legislators are not held accountable for leading citizens in the dark, unaware of the process of growing their districts. Jordan's are entitled to not only examine the criteria used to create their own district, but also provide substantive feedback on any proposed maps before they are adopted. Democracy cannot happen behind closed doors. Our redistricting process must be open, democratic, and representative of the interests of all Jordanians. I urge the members of the committee, including myself and the Georgia General Assembly, to ensure that we look up to these basic principles during this redistricting process. Thank you so much for hearing me. So that's everyone on the list. Is there anyone who thinks you signed up, but we didn't get to call you on? Yes ma'am. You know we all told you who we are and we are. Why don't you take the time to tell us who you are? Can this lady speak first and answer this question? Yes ma'am, did you sign up? I thought I said that. Okay, then step forward. I'm sorry, if we miss you, I apologize. Yes ma'am, you have a line. My name is Lawrence Ovidian, and I'm a resident here of Athens. I've been here 19 years. I have never felt oppressed or in any which way felt that everybody has stopped me from voting. I am capable of getting a driver's license. Nobody stops me from going to a restaurant. So I feel like I've fallen on another planet today because actually I have seen a couple of representatives come down to speak in Athens, but I have never seen any of these faces that are up here today. I spoke into the representatives here one on one. I spoke into the councillor Houston games, and it's been one on one. I've had expressed my views countless, and they've been very nice actually. So oftentimes I see on the newspaper that these parts go to the rural areas to speak to people, and in fact I've heard them speak in a very small rural period down to Athens, you know. So I'm kind of surprised to hear that a lot of people are talking about these things, you know. So having spoken to them one on one, I usually confident of their character when they actually go down the line. So I would say I'm not worried because I spoke into them, so I know that they are watching out for people, you know. They probably will do the right thing, you know. So I'm not concerned about that. My kids were up here in Athens as well, in public school. They actually go to east side schools, the bad side. That's how a lot of people may know that, or see it like that. And they're also there during the learning age as well, 18 and 27 now, and quite actually in their schools, you know, mainly in minorities in the school. They have not gone to private schools or anything like that. And I've seen a lot of generation rather than education in the schools, which concerns me a lot because I feel that a lot of the young people are not represented here. I mean, I see young people from colleges, but I don't see a lot of high school students here. And that says a lot about our schools as well. But I do feel confident in that the representatives that are up there, and a couple of people I have seen before, that you will do the right decisions, you know, and that you can take people into conservation. As I said, I'm female, I'm darker. I'm an immigrant. I fled away with my family back in 1972 from a very aggressive government. My parents never had a set in that never took welfare. They weren't very much to have a set of their kids go to college. So I would say if you are concerned, the best thing to do is to meet and speak with these representatives when they do come to Athens, they will speak to you. And I find them very nice. Thank you very much, Mr. Calderd. Thank you. In conclusion, our testimony takes a portion of this. We appreciate you being here. If you want these folks up here, feel free to come along. We're actually past the seven o'clock hours. I want to be respectful of everyone's time here and of the audience who make plans around the time that we sit in this meeting and take place. Well, I'd like to put myself to sit around and want to meet or talk with you to see what I think. And just thank you for coming to this tonight and thank all of those on the stage that have driven my co-chairs, which are me, Mr. Calderd.