MARIETTA, Ga. — Cobb County will postpone an election for county commissioner seats this November. This, after a judge ruled that the county illegally drew new district lines for seats that were due to be on the ballot.
The ruling means Cobb will have to reschedule one portion of the November election after a court ruled that a county commission district map drawn by the Democrat-led county commission is illegal.
Though Cobb County’s board of commissioners had a Democratic majority, Republican lawmakers had legal authority to change their districts in 2022, producing a power struggle and a court battle.
The redrawn Republican maps squeezed out Democratic Cobb County commissioner Jerica Richardson.
The GOP maps were "politically balanced," then-state Rep. Ed Setzler (R-Acworth) argued in a House debate on February 14, 2022.
Democrats fiercely disagreed with them. "In these commission maps, Jerica Richardson --drawn out!" shouted then-state Rep. Erick Allen (D-Smyrna) during the same debate. The GOP led House approved the map the same day.
Democrats on the Cobb Board of Commissioners ignored the districts drawn by the legislature – and drew another map instead. That was the map Cobb County voters used in the May 2024 primary.
But this week, a judge said the Cobb County Board of Commissioners had no authority to change the legislature’s map.
"itt was just an improper power grab by the board of commissioners to try to utilize a rule that just didn’t apply to draw their own maps," said attorney Chuck Boring, who represents a candidate who wanted to run for county commissioner but couldn’t under the county’s now-discarded map. Boring says GOP candidate Alicia Adams is expected to run in a special election likely to take place next year – under the Republican-drawn map.
"Now they have to start over again," Boring said.
Cobb County’s board of elections is expected to schedule the special election in 2025 under the guidance of this week’s court ruling.