Members of the Macon County Planning Board met last week to discuss creating voting districts with fairer representation in county government.
The May 7 meeting began with the swearing in of new member Larry Lackey.
The planning board met with liaisons from Franklin and Highlands to further discuss options for changing the makeup of the Macon County Board of Commissioners.
The redistricting conversation originally began at the county level in December 2025, with commissioner John Shearl pushing for a local bill to be brought forward in the General Assembly. The bill would have required Macon County to enlarge District 1 (Ellijay, Sugarfork, Highlands and Flats) and District 3 (Nantahala, Burningtown, Cartoogechaye and Cowee) and shrink District 2 (Iotla, Mill- shoal, Union, Smith- bridge and three Franklin precincts), to establish three districts with equal population and one commissioner each, and two commissioners to be elected at large.
Shearl said the current electoral system disenfranchises voters from Districts 1 and 3, who only have the opportunity to vote on representation from their district every four years, compared to District 2, which due to its commissioners "staggered terms have the opportunity to vote on district representatives every two years.
Other options for electing commissioners could include five commissioners elected at large or establishing five equal districts with one commissioner each. If there are five districts, the county would need to decide if all voters can vote in each race or if they will vote only for candidates from their district.
A motion to move forward with the local bill failed in March after other commissioners agreed the county’s electoral structure should be changed, but should be done carefully and with greater public input. The commissioners tasked the Macon County Planning Board with identifying options for revising the districts. The board met previously in April, continuing its side of the conversation in May.
During the public comment period, six people gave mixed opinions on the redistricting plan. Jimmy Goodman and Rob Tolp were in favor of redistricting to give Districts 1 and 3 more chances to elect local representation. Constance Neely was supportive of redistricting but recommended caution and transparency when making the final decision. Lisa Walker said five districts would result in the most fair representation for the county. Goodman, who spoke at the April meeting, said in May, “It seems like in the last meeting that y’all were at, ‘We’ve got to make it perfect, we’ve got to get it perfect.’ There ain’t no perfect … Right now, we’ve been 50 years of disenfranchisement in my district, which I live in District 3. And it’s time to get something done. Last time I said I don’t care what happens. I don’t care how y’all do it as long as it’s fair to everybody in Macon County.”
Tolp advocated for commissioner candidates to only be voted on by members of their home districts, saying, “It only makes perfect sense that voters from each district be the ones who choose the commissioner in that district.”
“Certainly, five individual districts would be more in keeping with our founders’ vision, but there is a precedent already for the three and two where district lines have already been drawn; none of that has to be hashed out again,” he said.
NEW OPTIONS FOR REDISTRICTING
Amy Patterson, a Highlands commissioner and the Highlands liaison to the planning board, shared a collection of Macon County precinct makeups which could serve as options for establishing five electoral districts. Each option leaves Districts 1 and 3 intact, splitting District 2 into three separate districts with different precinct distributions.
Option one places Iotla, Millshoaland North Franklin into a single district; South Franklin, East Franklin and Union into one district; and Smithbridge into its own district with 4,047 members as of the 2020 census.
Option two places Iotla, Millshoal and North Franklin together; pairs South Franklin and Union; and places East Franklin with Smithbridge.
Option three puts Iotla with North and South Franklin; Millshoal with East Franklin; and Union with Smithbridge.
Board member Marty Kimsey thanked Patterson for pulling the options together and giving the board a pathway to find an optimal arrangement for a five-district system if they choose to pursue one.
Patterson advocated a five-district system, saying, “certainly from District 1, we want to feel like we control who our representative is going to be. I think District 3 wants to control who their representative is going to be.”
Patterson also expressed concerns that expanding District 1 to create two at-large seats would dilute the voices of Highlands voters by adding thousands of extra voters and candidates.
Shearl said Highlands would lose out under a five-district system with only intradistrict voting. He said unless the single representative can get two other commissioners’ support, “Highlands will never get anything.”
He said in five districts, candidates would not have to spend as much money on campaign funds, but voters would lose out on chances to remake the board.
“If you get stuck … with a representative that’s not working for you, you’re stuck with them for four years,” he said, saying with three districts and two at-large seats voters could support their favored candidate in another election two years later, if the candidate chooses to run. Depending on the number of candidates running and the election results, with a 3-2 system, a district could have three representatives on the Board of Commissioners.
Patterson said Shearl’s goal was to give more opportunities to prospective candidates rather than voters, which he denied.
“That never came out of my mouth,” he said.
Shearlhas said in previous meetings it is unfair that losing candidates in District 1 and 3 have fewer opportunities to ran than in District 2. Later in the May meeting, he said, “The unfairness about the two-year access is people that ran against me in District 1 that lost can’t run for office for four more years.”
MOVING FORWARD
Planning Board chair David Culpepper said he could see issues with every option discussed, noting that establishing four districts with one at-large seat could potentially resolve everyone’s concerns. He said since the county would not need to recommend an option to the General Assembly until March 2027, the Planning Board and Board of Com- missioners would have plenty of time to discuss options.
County Planner Joe Allen suggested the board prioritize deciding whether the the preferred path is to have district voters vote on their own candidates or on all candidates running, and then move forward with a preferred number of districts. Kimsey said the board should get in touch with the remaining county commissioners to get their input on which of those two options they would rather see before the June meeting. The next Planning Board meeting will take place at the Macon County Public Health building at 5 p.m. on Thursday, June 11, rescheduled from the original date of June 4.
SHELBY POWELL - THE FRANKLIN PRESS
Reporter Shelby Powell can be reached at reporter@thefranklinpress.com