Pickens Seeks New Commission Districts

The first public hearing for Pickens County’s two new voting districts was held this past Monday, November 7th. The new districts are solely for the purpose of selecting two additional posts for the county commission. Come next year, the county will have a three person Board of Commissioners. The two posts will be elected from their respective districts, divided into east and west. The chair position, however, can be elected from anywhere in the county.

Monday’s hearing was held at the Hinton Community Center on Highway 53 West. The one-room venue was scatted with concerned voters, sitting in metal fold-out chairs and on benches along the wall, arms-crossed, listening intently. State Rep. Rick Jasperse (GA-R-12) gave a power-point presentation about the two new proposed voting districts and the process for forming them. According to Jasperse, the effort is the fruit of the August special session of Legislature. In the August Legislature, the main focus was on the realignment of Congressional Districts where Pickens was split between the new 14th and 9th districts. In his presentation, though, Jasperse discussed two new voting districts for next year’s election of a three-commission Board for Pickens County. As Jasperse explained, the new districts will be solely for the purpose of electing two new commission posts.

Faced with the task of creating two districts for this purpose Jasperse said that the Reapportionment Committee sought to use major roads as dividing lines or lines of demarcation. After exploring several options, such as Highways 515 and 53 as borders, the Committee finally decided on Old Highway Five with some slight variations as the line of demarcation, separating the two districts into east and west.

One requirement of the process is that districts be equitable in population, or as close as possible. Here, the equability is assessed by deviation, meaning the numerical difference in the two sets of populations. Jasperse said that the deviation must be below 5 percent. On the Old Highway Five map the deviation is approximately 2.3 percent. And, this is the map that Jasperse, Pickens Commissioner Robert Jones, and the Committee is supporting and conceivably will send to Legislature, since the other maps exceeded the five percent deviation limit. The county must submit the map to Legislature by the first week in January in order for the election process to be ready for 2012 Elections.

Two more public hearing will be held on next Monday, November 14th at Tate Elementary School at 6:30 P.M. and Monday, November 21st at 6:30 P.M. at The Pickens County Administrative Buildings.

See Proposed Map Above Article