ATLANTA — Georgia House Democrats are launching a series of redistricting hearings in rural parts of the state.

The hearings will begin Thursday in Fort Valley. There will also be hearings in Milledgeville, Brunswick and Thomasville.

Democrats say they have concerns about how the GOP-led reapportionment hearing process was conducted. They say the times of the Republican hearings made it difficult for working Georgians to attend, that lawmakers failed to provide feedback to citizen questions and the panel hearing citizen concerns didn't include women.

Rep. Carolyn Hugley, chair of the House Democratic Reapportionment Committee, said Democrats have been locked out of the process.

That was also a common complaint among Republicans when Democrats controlled reapportionment.