COBB COUNTY, Ga. — New congressional districts were causing confusion for some voters at the polls in Cobb County on Tuesday.
“It was hard to tell all the changes,” said Mayme Mitcham outside of a polling location in Marietta. “The person I wanted to vote for wasn’t on the ballot I chose.”
Steve Yancey also arrived to the polls to cast a ballot. Yancey said it's up to the voter to keep up with the confusion.
“I think you have to pay a lot of attention to be up on each and every one,” Yancey said.
Part of the confusion Tuesday was that Cobb County's congressional districts were redrawn last year. For voters who may not cast a ballot in every election, they may have not been aware.
Andra Gillespie, 11Alive political analyst and Emory political science professor, said that impacts both voters and the people they’re voting for at the polls.
For voters, she said it means they need to make sure they stay up to date on who they could be voting for on their ballots.
“At the congressional level, candidates do have some flexibility about where they choose to run,” said Gillespie. “So long as they live in the state, they can run anywhere.”
Congresswoman Lucy McBath is an example. She initially represented Georgia’s 6th congressional district from 2019-2023.
“After Congresswoman McBath won her seat, the 2021 redistricting happened and the district lines were redrawn to make the sixth more Republican and to make the seventh more diverse and more Democratic,” Gillespie explained. “Congresswoman McBath looked at the lines and decided she would have a better chance of winning a congressional seat if she decided to run in the seventh district.”
In this primary, McBath is back on the ballot for the sixth congressional district.
“The sixth district that she's running in now is very different from the sixth district that she originally ran in six years ago,” said Gillespie. “But there are parts of that district that are the same.”
Gillespie said this could be an advantage or disadvantage when it comes to getting voters. Election results will paint a fuller picture as voters head into the highly-anticipated November elections.
“Assuming that they've lived in the district for more than six years, there are voters in this newly configured district who have had her as their representative before, so they know what they're getting,” said Gillespie.