MACON, Ga. — State leaders were in town Thursday night for a public hearing before voting on redrawing district lines statewide. It’s a process that happens every 10 years after the census.
Everyone had exactly five minutes to speak, and some decided to use every second possible. A common topic that people brought up was gerrymandering.
Of the 29 speakers, the youngest of them all was 13-year-old David Horton Jr., who traveled down to Macon from Gwinnett County.
"Gerrymandering is the issue that affects all the other issues you may care about, but it also is about being fair and open to all Georgians,” said Horton.
He says he’s been to two of the public hearings and he hopes to one day become a politician himself. On Thursday, his message was geared toward the current leaders.
“These legislators should be making maps based on the inputs that they learn from hearings just like this and the ones past, because, like one woman said, they are working for us so without our input they shouldn't be doing anything,” said Horton.
Although some people did come from far, others came to represent both Macon-Bibb County and the neighboring Houston County.
Debbie Taylor from Centerville said she had one goal – to have all of Houston County represented evenly.
"I hope to see the new lines being drawn where they may be able to annex some of the surrounding communities, like Byron, Bonaire, Kathleen, into the mix. Maybe we need to create a larger demographic of the district,” said Taylor.
The next public hearing will be held virtually on Friday at 5 p.m. and you can watch it on the Georgia General Assembly website.
The expected time frame to have the census complete is the end of September.
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