COBB COUNTY, GA — A town hall Tuesday evening at the Smyrna Community Center will explain how a racial gerrymandering lawsuit is leading to voting changes in Cobb County.

Cobb County now has a new school board voting map after courts ruled the Board of Education and state lawmakers used race to manipulate districts and “packed” Black and Hispanic voters into three districts to maintain a white majority on the board.

Attorney Poy Winichakul of the Southern Poverty Law Center says that led to diminished political power for those communities and their concerns being ignored.

“Whether it was black and brown families who were experiencing racism and insufficient response from the school district, to not being able to be sufficiently heard because public comment was limited by the school board itself,” Winichakul said.

Winichakul says the newly drawn map gives voters new opportunities.

“Now you have a chance, Cobb County voters have a chance to vote for three of those school board members under this new map. These are really really critical elections coming up this year,” Winichakul said.

Federal courts ruled the Cobb County Board of Education and state lawmakers violated the Constitution by using race in drawing the maps.

“It looks like communities of color getting the chance to say and share their own experiences without being shut out in the first place,” Winichakul said.

The town hall begins at 6:30 and will also discuss education issues in Cobb County.

Three Cobb County Board of Education seats are up for election this fall.

WSB Radio’s Veronica Waters contributed to this story.