Before Labor Day, we’ll have a clue of how the new battle lines are drawn. The boundaries I’m referring to are part of the redistricting illustration that will be submitted in the coming weeks based on the 2010 Census data.

The last political confab of district map rigging happened mid-decade in 2006. On Aug. 15, somehow through the heat, drought and smog, House and Senate officials will find a way to travel back to the Capitol for a special session to redraw congressional and legislative district borders.

The areas must conform to the new U.S. Census figures that indicate north Georgia’s population is swelling. The same data reveals southern portions of the state are hemorrhaging people and some pundits believe south Georgia is without a lot of political clout.

Typical reapportionment by lawmakers has always been interesting to watch in Georgia, but now the forceful GOP dominance and weakness of Democrats makes for most interesting dynamics. As Florida’s House Democrat leader Perry Thurston recently said, “When it comes to politics, I think this is one of the most partisan aspects.”

At the beginning of the mind-numbing process in January, the minority party in Georgia cried foul when Republican leaders created a new legislative office. Democrats said they were “left out” of the process and worried that the majority would “politicize” the decision-making.

Stop laughing.

The Legislative and Congressional Reapportionment Office designation was made by Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle and House Speaker David Ralston. Staffing has been handled by the University of Georgia’s nonpartisan Carl Vinson Institute of Government.

Longtime counsel to the state Republican Party, Ann Lewis is supporting the team with legal guidance that helps keep boundaries lawful under U.S. Justice Department guidelines.

In February, at the inception of the agency, Senate Minority Leader Robert Brown, referring to the creation of the new office said, “It’s obviously not nonpartisan.”

Was he serious?

Any claims by Democrats that their tenure as the mainstream political movement was spent catering and including the opposition party in a nonpartisan approach is preposterous.

Like you, I remember those days when the Republican officials were shut-out, placed in the least convenient office space and merely given formless responses when objections or suggestions were raised.

The fun this year hasn’t been limited to the predictable claims of partisan feuding. There was an ugly disagreement when State Sen. Tommie Williams, R-Lyons, wanted to be sole Senate intermediary of how the lines would be redrawn for Congress, the state House and Senate.

Because Lt. Gov. Cagle won that small skirmish with Williams, he joins Gov. Deal and House Speaker Ralston as the trio that has control of the redistricting course of action.

All three are from north Georgia, which has seen growth in population. You can almost bet that a new congressional district will benefit Hall County, home to Deal and Cagle.

At a few of the redistricting forums that have been held so far, Democrat voters complained about being split up. In an effort to keep their districts based on uniform geographic standards, residents in Athens-Clarke County charged gerrymandering at its worst. Some at the assembly even uttered the old school descriptive: disenfranchised.

Again, stop laughing.

Disenfranchised means to be left out or deprived of the rights of citizenship. How can anybody in our state (of legal voting age) claim they’ve been left out of voting or deprived the right of being a citizen? That is, unless the deprived aren’t legal citizens or not properly registered to cast a vote.

Locally, you can attend the House and Senate public hearing and give input to the Legislature’s reapportionment and redistricting efforts. The group will meet 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. June 13, at Mercer University’s School of Medicine.

Redistricting is a war, and ruling Republicans want to gain even more territory. It wasn’t any different when the method was controlled by longtime House Speaker Tom Murphy and other top Democrat bosses.

You know what they say about paybacks.

Kenny Burgamy serves as a marketing consultant and is co-host of the Kenny B. Charles E., TV, radio and Internet program.