Redistricting plan allows some to choose more lawmakers than others

ATLANTA - Beginning with the primary elections next week, some Georgia voters will get to elect up to four legislators to the 180-member Georgia House of Representatives. Others will elect only one. <br> <br> That&#39;s one result of a redistricting plan approved last year by the Georgia General Assembly in a fiercely partisan special session. <br> <br> Republicans claimed the Democratic majority unfairly drew district lines to remain in power, including by putting several legislators in super-sized districts that are two, three or four times as large as the traditional district - which serves about 45,500 residents. <br> <br> Despite the complaints, a federal court ruled that the plan is legal, meaning voters Tuesday may find that they can choose more than one House member. <br> <br> Candidates in multimember districts run for numbered posts. Voters throughout the district get to vote in the election for each post. <br> <br> In Atlanta&#39;s new 42nd House district, it will be the equivalent of having a separate election for each of four posts. But the balloting will be conducted among 175,000 people instead of about 45,500. <br> <br> That likely will help Rep. Kathy Ashe, who was elected as a Republican last time from a section of Atlanta that has now been submerged into the huge multimember 42nd district. <br> <br> She since has changed parties and is running as a Democrat. In her old district, she would likely face a backlash of angry Republicans. But her district now is four times as big and includes other neighborhoods that lean Democratic. <br> <br> ``Of course it&#39;s helpful as a candidate,&#39;&#39; she said. ``It&#39;s also more challenging because there are four times more folks.&#39;&#39; <br> <br> Rep. Lynn Westmoreland of Sharpsburg, the House Republican leader, says that&#39;s one example of the politics behind the map drawn by majority Democrats. <br> <br> ``She&#39;s the first one to go from Republican to Democrat. Naturally, they want to look after her so they can entice others to do that.&#39;&#39; <br> <br> In all, there are 23 multimember districts containing a total 56 House seats, or nearly one-third of the House membership. Two of the districts, both in Atlanta, have four posts each. Six other districts have three each and 15 more have two each. The remaining 124 House districts have a single member each. <br> <br> Most of the multimember districts are in Atlanta or its suburbs. One that is not is in deep southeast Georgia in the home of the chairman of the House Reapportion Committee, Rep. Tommy Smith, D-Nicholls. <br> <br> Smith, who shares the two-member district with Rep. Hinson Mosley, D-Jesup, said he drew the district to avoid splitting Brantley County. Plus, he said, having two lawmakers from a district ``gives you two voices whenever you need something, like getting roads and grants. It doubles our influence.&#39;&#39; <br> <br> Smith is unopposed for post two in the new 129th district. Mosley has no primary opposition for post one, but faces a Republican in the fall. <br> <br> This isn&#39;t the first time Georgia has employed multimember districts. They were common in the 1970s and 1980s but the practice was ended in the 1990s for fear it tended to dilute black voting strength and possibly violated the Voting Rights Act. <br> <br> Key legal decisions in the late 1990s led Democratic leaders to declare that multimember districts were safe again. <br> <br> Whether voters are puzzled by the new multimember districts won&#39;t be known until after the election. <br> <br> ``There is certainly the potential for confusion,&#39;&#39; said Chris Riggall of the Secretary of State&#39;s office. ``Some are quite likely to be surprised when they are asked to vote in four separate legislative races.&#39;&#39; <br> <br> Smith, the House redistricting chairman, thinks all will be smooth. ``It&#39;s simple: You vote in one post and then you drop down and vote in another.&#39;&#39;