While they gained Georgia a 14th seat in Congress, population changes over the last decade were unkind to several Augusta-area legislators, whose districts now lag 4,000 to 34,000 residents below where they need to be.

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Those mostly Democratic-held state posts face redistricting by a Republican-controlled legislature, and decisions are being made right now on how each legislative district's population deficit may be filled.

"With Sen. Hardie Davis, how do we control that line?" asked Charles Utley, at a recent forum held to prepare residents to provide input into redistricting decisions.

Davis' urban District 22 faces obstacles to recouping about 34,000 residents it needs to meet the new state average of about 173,000, the most notable being the Savannah River boundary with South Carolina.

An obvious answer seems to be for District 23 to expand south into consolidated Augusta-Richmond County -- but that dips into the territory of Senate District 23, held by Sen. Jesse Stone, R-Waynesboro. And mostly rural District 23 already has a 20,000-resident shortfall to make up.

Theories and speculation abound as a legislative committee goes about redistricting, and there's a reason for that: The maps are being drawn behind closed doors by a private firm hired to replace the University of Georgia's Carl Vinson Institute of Government, the agency that previously performed the service.

"That level of academic knowledge and transparency is not in the process anymore," said Tracey-Ann Nelson, the executive director of the League of Women Voters of Georgia, which co-sponsored the forum to attempt to engage residents in the process.

On Tuesday, residents may weigh in on how they'd like the districts to look and become a part of the official record that will go to the U.S. Department of Justice when it reviews Georgia's redistricting plan.

Residents have three minutes to comment, and they won't be commenting on anything concrete, because drafts expected to be ready when the Georgia Legislature convenes on Aug. 15 are not being made public, Nelson said.

"I don't like the idea that things are being decided without a lot of understanding or openness," said Augusta resident Bonnie Terrill, who wondered how to comment on something that is unknown.

Augusta Democratic Party Chairman Lowell Greenbaum was skeptical about the general public's influence on redistricting decisions.

"It's a dog and pony show," Greenbaum said of the hearings, which will take place in 12 Georgia cities starting today.

No amount of unity is likely to reunite Augusta, Savannah or Columbus into a single congressional district, with all currently split down the middle held by members of different parties.

"That gives Savannah two votes in Washington, and Augusta two votes in Washington," said Dave Barbee, a longtime Georgia Republican official.

Democratic Congressman John Barrow's 12th District, which already covers half of Augusta and Savannah could even be redrawn to incorporate parts of Macon, Barbee said.

While Augusta has "a lot riding" on its congressmen in Washington -- who represent the region's huge military, energy, medical and water interests -- the city will suffer in Atlanta after redistricting.

"What hurts Augusta is the fact that our population didn't grow, and we're probably going to lose a state representative," said Barbee, who served as Richmond County Republican party chairman for a decade and 10th District chairman for four years.

Although their districts are now short thousands of residents, drawing any of Augusta's five black Democratic state legislators out of the mix would draw close scrutiny by the Justice Department.

Augusta Democratic Rep. Wayne Howard's 121st House District lost the most population during the decade and needs to add about 13,000 people to remain equally representative.

At the hearing, Barbee said he expects the loudest voices to come in support of keeping incumbents' districts intact.

"They all want to keep their seats; they're going to be there doing the fighting too," he said.

Absent from the process now but still paying attention are Augusta's local elected officials, whose districts will employ the state lines as guidelines when they're redrawn.

Although it's likely to happen soon, Richmond County Board of Elections has not yet received local census data from the state, nor has a committee been established to redraw school board or commission lines, Elections Director Lynn Bailey said.

Once the local lines are drawn, they will be forwarded to Justice for approval, she said.