Politics & Government
County's Political Map Approved Without Change
County commissioners gave their unanimous approval to the district maps that will determine which districts Board of Commissioners and Board of Education members will represent.
The map that will determine which districts Forsyth County Board of Commissioners and Board of Education members serve has been approved and will be forwarded to the state General Assembly when it convenes on Monday.
Less than 24 hours after a town hall meeting sponsored by the Republican Party, Democratic Party and Tea Party, county commissioners approved the original map with no changes, no discussion and no dissent at Tuesday's work session.
"That just shows how much they listened," said Sharon Gunter, chairwoman of the Democratic Party and one of the organizers of the meeting.
Find out what's happening in Cummingwith free, real-time updates from Patch.
While most of the discussion at the townhall meeting focused on sending a message to state legislators that the county should not be split into separate congressional districts, Richard Ward, first vice chairman of the county GOP, questioned why a small piece of property along Freedom Parkway should move from District 5 to District 1, despite having just two homes.
"There is no benefit to the citizens of the county to move this," he said. "Other than that, I think they did a good job with the map."
Find out what's happening in Cummingwith free, real-time updates from Patch.
The Georgia State Legislature will convene in special session Monday to redraw house, senate and congressional districts to conform to the 2010 U.S. Census. The special session is expected to last two to three weeks.
The districts must be redrawn every 10 years to conform to population changes reflected by the U.S. Census.
Because Georgia is still under the Voting Rights Act, once the districts are passed by the Legislature, they must be approved by either the U.S. Justice Department or a federal court.
