Commissioners reject Frye’s redistricting map

The ACC Mayor and Commission failed to agree on a redistricting proposal put forward by Representative Spencer Frye (D) in a special session called for this purpose last week. Despite passing Frye’s proposal by a vote of 8-2, the commission’s approval will likely have no effect on legislation currently being considered by the Georgia General Assembly to manipulate Athens’ commission districts as the vote was not unanimous.

Frye’s proposal

Frye, the lone Democrat in Athens’ legislative delegation, says he was cut out of the discussion when his Republican colleagues decided how to rearrange Athens’ commission districts. As a response, Frye created his own map which retains many of the changes made in the Republican map with two big exceptions: it keeps all commissioners within their own districts and does not switch any of the district numbers. 

Since Frye’s map does not draw commissioners out of their districts or change the district numbers and is otherwise essentially the same, it effectively reveals the hand of those supporting the Republican map. In his statement, Frye politely referred to the troubling aspects of the Republican map as “errors” that could be “fixed with minimal trouble.”

While the district shapes are very similar in both maps, there are two significant differences in Frye’s version compared to the Republican map. First, district 2 keeps all of the historically-Black East Athens neighborhood intact in his proposal. Second, district 1 retains Winterville and the eastern part of the county in Frye’s version.

Three commissioners reject Frye’s map in a tense meeting

At their meeting last Thursday, commissioners in support of Frye’s map pleaded with their colleagues that the vote should be unanimous. That’s because Athens’ Republican state delegation, including Representatives Houston Gaines and Marcus Wiedower and also Senators Bill Cowsert and Frank Ginn, have informed the commission that they want any request for local legislation to be unanimous before they would consider supporting it. 

The state delegation’s request is well-known by all ten commissioners, as it was mailed to them in writing last year. ACC Manager Blaine Williams reminded the commission of this request at a previous meeting and Mayor Kelly Girtz repeated it once more at this most recent meeting. Nevertheless, Commissioner Ovita Thornton correctly pointed out that the Republican request does not have the force of law. She did so as a way of downplaying the significance of the vote on Frye’s map, and of her earlier abstention on another such map.

Wright agreed with Thornton and, referring to the last time local commission districts were changed by the legislature, also downplayed the importance of the vote they were about to take. “History has shown us that when a map comes [to] the local delegation, unanimously supported like it was last time, that does not mean that map is accepted,” she said.

This being the case does little to diminish the urgency that some commissioners seemed to feel during this short and tense meeting. In particular, Commissioners Melissa Link, Tim Denson and Russell Edwards, who would be drawn out of their districts and prevented from running for reelection in this cycle if the Republican map passes, praised Frye’s map and emphasized the confusion and the separation of communities of interest that the Republican map would cause.

“The mass confusion that would [be] elicited by the Republicans’ map is a form of voter suppression,” Link said.

Other commissioners spoke up in support for their colleagues and for the democratic ideal that voters should be able to choose their own representatives. “I have hopes, or prayers, that we can somehow come together tonight in a unanimous vote for this map,” said Commissioner Carol Myers. Myers then added that she had received over 250 public comments via email in support of the map, showing that it has broad support among Athens voters.

ACC Elections Director Charlotte Sosebee added her support for Frye’s map, which would greatly reduce the time and effort required of our local elections workers. Even so, she told the commission that she would need the information embedded in the map added to the ACC election system by February 18, a short turnaround.

The adoption of any new map with so little time remaining before the local election begins in May would put a large amount of stress on ACC election workers. However, the Republican map would be far worse. For example, that one was made without consideration for Athens’ existing voting precinct structure. If it is adopted, the number of possible ballot combinations ACC election workers will have to account for on such short notice is staggering. Frye’s map would reduce the number of ballot combinations significantly, saving elections workers stress at a critical time.

With a bit of a chuckle at her hopeless situation, Sosbee told the commission that “it would be good to have the [final] maps by next week?” Of course, she knows that may not happen. In fact, Gaines, one of the Republican maps’ sponsors, pulled his bill off the house floor and reassigned it to committee on Monday, a move which will probably further delay the adoption of his or any map.

Commissioners vote

Opponents of Frye’s plan, including Commissioners Allison Wright and Mike Hamby, listened to all of this and then voted ‘no’ without giving any reason for their objection during the meeting. The final vote to recommend this map to the legislature passed 8-2, but failed the test of unanimity.

What about Ovita Thornton?

Thornton voted ‘yes’ on the map, but by the end of the meeting she said she would prefer to abstain, even going so far as to say she intended to force another vote on the map next month which she would then abstain from.

It goes without saying that this is highly unusual. Why would Thornton feel so strongly about an abstention that she would want to force an entirely new vote just minutes after the last?

As mentioned above, Thornton downplayed the significance of this and previous votes during this meeting. That indicates she feels little if any responsibility for whatever map is ultimately approved by the legislature. Furthermore, through her earlier abstention, she has shown that she would rather hand over this power to the legislature than give any formal advice or guidance on the matter.

Thornton’s confusing substitute motion

Now, let’s dig a bit deeper. In her first comment during this meeting, Thornton made what she intended to be a substitute motion which would have replaced the question about whether to approve Frye’s map. Her motion was to ask Frye to meet with the Republican members of Athens’ delegation to discuss his map before she would vote to accept it.

“I would like to make the motion that since this is a compromise map, before we adopt this resolution, that Spencer Frye meet with the other members of the delegation and at least discuss this,” Thornton said. 

Wright seconded Thornton’s motion with the caveat that it should be a separate motion and not replace the current motion on the table, which was to approve Frye’s map. After that vote passed 8-2, the commission began considering Thornton’s motion, although it was slightly modified by Girtz. Girtz removed Thornton’s focus on Frye specifically, making it more of a general ask that the Athens’ state delegation work together. 

Thornton did not complain about this slight twisting of her motion, even though the change is somewhat important. Thornton was asking a specific person (Frye) to compromise with Republicans. If approved, Thornton’s original motion would have negated the commission’s support for Frye’s map, even if the vote was unanimous, because it would have indicated that the commission wanted to see further changes to the map.

Three commissioners (Houle, Myers and Denson) spoke up to oppose the motion, saying that it was unnecessary. They’re right. Deliberation and discussion is inherent in the process of legislating; with or without this motion, Athens’ delegation would have continued to meet as normal during the legislative session.

After it became clear that her motion was going to fail, Thornton asked if she could change her vote from ‘yes’ to ‘abstain’ on approving Frye’s map. This inflamed an already tense discussion and threatened to cause the meeting to spiral out of control into personal attacks. At this point, Edwards jumped in and made a motion to immediately end the meeting (and turn off the cameras), preventing Thornton’s motion from being voted on.

“I’d be remiss if I didn’t say how upsetting and frustrating [it] feels… the vote of no confidence I’ve received from my colleagues to not even be qualified to stand for reelection,” Edwards said.

Thornton seconded Edward’s motion to adjourn, apparently satisfied not to vote on her own motion, which was doomed to fail.

Thornton gave APN a misleading comment on why she wanted to change her vote, using an inaccurate sequence of events, which you can read in full here.

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