Gerrymandering — By Tommy Purser

I heard that someone recently called the County Commission office and inquired about which commissioner represented Snipesville.
“It depends on where you live,” was the answer. The caller was surprised to learn that the boundary separating the Ocmulgee Commissiion District and the Whitehead Commission District runs smack dab through the middle of Snipesville. James Emory Tate represents one area of the community and Vann Wooten represents the other area.
Generally speaking, people living in Snipesville south of Hwy. 107 are in the Whitehead District while people living in Snipesville north of Hwy. 107 are in the Ocmulgee District.
“Well, that makes no sense,” you may say and you would be right ….. as far as I’m concerned.
I didn’t think it was right 30-plus years ago when the district lines were drawn and I don’t think it’s right today.
In my humble opinion, Snipesville is a cohesive conmmunity. So is the Altamaha section. And the Halspur community. And Bridgeford. And so forth.
People who live in those respective areas consider each other to be neighbors. Many members of their families live in the same area. Many of them go to church together. When a tragedy affects one family, it affects them all. When one family needs help they all pitch in to help. They help raise each others children. That’s what communities do.
Communities stick together.
So why split them up?
Simple answer: politics. Or more specifically: gerrymandering
Decades ago, laws were enacted that required all voting districts to be as close to the same size as possible. By same size, I don’t mean area-wise. I mean voting population-wise.
Before those laws were passed, Jeff Davis County’s voting districts were widely out of proportion. Some 80% of the county’s population lived in one district — the Hazlehurst District. The other 20% of the population were divided among the county’s other four districts. Other counties all over Georgia were similary aligned.
That, too, made little sense.
Today, about 20% of the county’s population lives in each district of Jeff Davis County.
But about half of the Snipesville population is in the Whitehead District while the other half is in the Ocmulgee District.
When those lines were first drawn up, decades ago, I looked at the map of the proposed districts and noticed rather quickly that Snipesville was split down the middle by the Ocmulgee/Whitehead boundary line.
“Why split Snipesville in half?” I asked — naively.
“To keep James Tate and Cicero Fowler from having to run against each other,” was the answer to my question.
Why? you might ask.
Well, that’s exactly what I asked at the time.
The answer was simple — both James Tate and Cicero Fowler (both now deceased) were members of the County Commission at the time. The lines were drawn to “protect” them from having to run against each other.
In other words, the lines were drawn for them specifically — the rest of the Snipesville residents be damned.
The process wasn’t done with the electorate in mind, it was done with two politicians in mind. Period. End of story.
How could I have been so stupid, so naive, to think fairness to the citizens of the Snipesville Community would enter into the decision-making process. Drawing the county district lines wasn’t about the citizens of Jeff Davis County, it was about protecting politicians. Maintaining the status quo. Preserving power.
It didn’t occur to the powers-that-be that allowing citizens of the Snipesville community to speak with one voice was of any importance. What was important was protecting James and Cicero.
Of course, there’s a flip side to the coin. By protecting two politicians decades ago, the Snipesville community was awarded two votes on the Jeff Davis County Commission and that situation continues today.
Why does that matter?
I’ll give you a recent answer:
The Joint Development Authority, which represents all of Jeff Davis County, asked the County Commission last week if they would foot the $375 bill to have the kitchen at The Big House inspected so the kitchen could be put back into use. It would take three votes to agree to the request but, with one commissioner absent, there were only four votes present.
The vote was 2-2 so the motion failed because it didn’t receive a majority of votes cast. The two “No” votes came from the two commissioners who live in the Snipesville Community
I’m not sure why Vann Wooten and James Emory Tate were against paying that $375 as requested.
But I know what it looks like.
And it’s not a good look.