ATLANTA — What may be the longest election in state history will go on a little longer.
House District 28 seemed to be decided by two votes last fall. Instead, a judge wants a third election.
This third do-over highlights a problem that likely extends well beyond one north Georgia seat in the state House of Representatives.
"The county line goes straight through these chicken coops here," explains Mark Davis, viewing Google Earth on his desktop computer. A blue line shows the boundary between Banks and Jackson Counties.
Davis is a political consultant who tracks where voters live, where they vote, and often finds surprises he shouldn’t.
"So, we have people who are neighbors, and in some instances in the same house that are literally registered to vote in two different counties," he says, pointing to a community hugging the county line.
Last year, Davis worked for state Rep. Dan Gassaway (R-Homer), the northeast Georgia state representative who lost his seat by two votes. Davis says he’s found plenty of voters who were actually ineligible to vote in that race - resulting in three different court challenges by his client.
At least part of the problem is that is that political lines don’t necessarily respect property lines. For example, Google Earth shows countless instances where county lines bisect properties or even houses.
Davis says the two-vote margin in the north Georgia race between Gasaway and Chris Erwin merely highlight a problem that’s likely widespread in Georgia.
Davis cross-references counties with voter data and addresses. He finds enough mismatches to warrant what he thinks is an issue requiring statewide attention.
"I’ve been finding them all over the state" since 2002, Davis said. "This is when digital mapping technology first came along and allowed us to first start identifying these type of issues. And it can be used to help correct them."
The boundary issues don’t come to light in other elections because so few races are decided by just a handful of votes.
Chris Erwin actually got sworn in to the District 28 seat earlier this month. Barring a successful court appeal, he and Gasaway will face off again for a third time.