Published today in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Read below, or with gift link to Op-Ed.

Georgia Republicans are waiting until you’ve voted to redraw our maps

Electing a Democratic governor is Georgians’ best chance to stop a party that wants to impose its will on citizens while dodging electoral accountability.

By Rep. Saira Draper

It’s an open secret under the Gold Dome: Georgia Republicans plan to redraw our political maps after the Nov. 3 election. They plan to gerrymander the districts so extremely that they will seize one or more congressional seats held by Democrats and cement Republican majorities in the Georgia House and Senate for the foreseeable future. They will do this regardless of how you vote.

At the state level, the only thing standing between Georgia and a generation of one-party legislative rule is our next governor.

Every Georgian who believes that voters should choose their politicians (and not the other way around) should vote for Keisha Lance Bottoms.

In April, the U.S. Supreme Court, in Louisiana v. Callais, gutted what remained of the Voting Rights Act, the landmark 1965 law that has protected Georgia voters from unfair maps for decades. Within weeks, Gov. Brian Kemp called a special session of the Georgia General Assembly and asked lawmakers to pass new maps.

Transparency in future steps has been lacking

But Republican legislative leaders balked. On June 17, House Speaker Jon Burns said redistricting was “not the right path forward for our state at this time.” He promised it would be done “the Georgia way … responsibly, transparently, and with ample opportunity for public input,” including public meetings across the state. Yet, as AJC politics columnist Patricia Murphy pointed out, none of those meetings have taken place or even been scheduled.

Why? Because transparency and public input were never the real reasons for the delay. Republicans’ own polling showed redistricting was unpopular. Voters saw it for what it was: an attempt to lock in power no matter how they vote. Rather than face a backlash in November for a brazen power grab, Republicans punted the map redrawing until after you’ve already cast your ballot.

So, when exactly will they redraw the maps? The timing simply depends on who is elected governor. If it’s Rick Jackson, there’s no risk of a veto, and the Legislature has two years to pass gerrymandered maps that lock in Republicans’ stranglehold on the General Assembly well into the 2030s.

If it’s Keisha Lance Bottoms, Republicans will call a special legislative session before she takes office in January so that Gov. Kemp can sign the new maps, avoiding her veto and rejecting the mandate of the majority of Georgians who elected her.

If the maps get passed no matter what, why does the governor’s race matter? Because maps are not permanent. The Legislature can redraw them in any year, and a governor has the leverage to make that happen.

Majority in the Legislature needs a check on its power

A Gov. Bottoms would hold the veto pen for four years. Every bill, including every Republican budget and tax bill, would have to get past her desk, and Republicans lack the two-thirds majorities needed to override her. Republican lawmakers would have to explain to their constituents why the tax cuts and local projects they promised stalled. Bottoms could use that leverage to bring Republicans back to the table to draw fair maps.

Without a Democratic governor, rigged maps would lock in the unchecked one-party rule that has given Georgians sky-high costs and data centers sprouting in our backyards while our power bills climb.

Rick Jackson has already shown how little he thinks of letting communities decide: residents near his Texas data center project say they were kept in the dark. When politicians can’t be voted out, they don’t have to listen to voters and can’t be held accountable for voting against our interests. That should concern every Georgian, regardless of party.

Early voting ends Friday. Election Day is Nov. 3. Republicans are waiting until you’ve voted to drown out your voice. Make sure your vote is the one they can’t ignore: elect Keisha Lance Bottoms.

Georgia state Rep. Saira Draper, D-Atlanta, represents House District 90 and is running for Senate District 44. She is a voting rights attorney.