Georgia Appeals to Restore Rejected Voting Maps

The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals will soon decide whether Georgia's redrawn voting maps, which have been the subject of litigation since 2021, violate the Voting Rights Act (VRA). On one side are minority voters who claim the maps dilute their voting power. On the other are Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and State Attorney Stephan Petrany, who argued on January 23, 2025, before a three-judge panel that the maps did not violate Section 2 of the VRA.
Blurred Lines
After the 2020 census, Republican lawmakers in control of Georgia's legislature redrew voting maps. The new maps were challenged by both voters and civil rights organizations. The redistricting was accused of being designed to limit the ability of Black voters to elect their preferred candidate in voting districts with a Black majority.
In 2023, U.S. District Judge Steve Jones agreed, handing down a 516-page decision that required the state to redraw the maps with a majority-Black district, which it did. He later accused the Republican-led Georgia Assembly of not making the new maps truly representative but allowed them to stand for the 2024 elections.
During the 2024 election, Republicans kept legislative control of Georgia and maintained a majority (9-5) of U.S. House of Representative delegates. Not satisfied with the results, Raffensperger and Petrany appealed to have the 2021 maps reinstated.
Race Versus Partisanship
The practice of gerrymandering remains legal and can only be addressed by the U.S. Supreme Court. Georgia argued that the maps that were disqualified had nothing to do with race or the racial makeup of the districts. Rather, Petrany claimed that the court needed to separate race from partisanship and focus on the latter as to why voting results could seem unfair.
Petrany claimed that Blacks were underrepresented because they tended to vote for Democrats. The district court's 2023 ruling had made factual findings that race and partisanship couldn't be severed.
In statewide elections that are unaffected by voting districts, the past three races for U.S. Senator in Georgia (one was to finish a term vacated due to illness) were narrowly won by Democrats.
In 2020, Raphael Warnock became the first Black Senator to represent Georgia in the state's history. During oral argument, U.S. Circuit Judge Barbara Lagoa pointed to Warnock's victory as evidence that race wasn't an issue. But fellow U.S. Circuit Judge Robin Rosenbaum questioned this analysis. Rosenbaum asked whether Warnock's statewide victory after 230 years of only white Senate representation highlighted a change in voting patterns being throttled by a lack of proper representation in the voting districts.
Rosenbaum noted the district court's findings that showed disproportionate education, income levels, employment, and living conditions created and fostered socioeconomic disparities between Black and white Georgians. This represses Black voters' political participation.
A Question of Representation
Georgia joins other Southern states in trying to use the courts to restore voting maps determined discriminatory. Rosenbaum seemed to indicate that the onus was on Georgia to dispute the factual findings provided through historical evidence in the district court's decision.
The future will show if Raffensperger and Petrany were successful. A decision is expected later this year.
Related Resources
- Supreme Court Okays Partisan Gerrymandering (FindLaw's U.S. Supreme Court)
- Voting Laws and Resources (FindLaw's Voting Center)
- Courts Continue To Pass the Buck on Gerrymandering (FindLaw's Federal Courts)