In what appears to be the end of the road in a long, drawn-out dispute over Cobb Commission electoral maps, a Superior Court judge Tuesday denied the county government’s last-ditch attempt to intervene in a case that’s resulted in special elections for two of the four district commission seats.
Cobb government spokesman Ross Cavitt said Wednesday that Commission Chairwoman Lisa Cupid “will propose an agenda item for commissioners at Tuesday’s BOC [meeting] to accept the ruling and move forward in good faith.”
Judge Kellie Hill affirmed her ruling from July that the “home rule” maps the county has been using since October 2022 are unconstitutional and that the May primary elections using them must be vacated.
That was after a Republican candidate for Cobb Commission District 2 was disqualified for not living within the map boundaries the county was observing.
In her order, Hill called for special elections using maps approved by the Georgia legislature in 2022, saying Adams lives within the District 2 boundaries in those maps.
The special elections would be scheduled for early next year, according to actions taken last week by the Cobb Board of Elections and Registration.
During a hearing Tuesday, the county argued that special elections would cost Cobb taxpayers—perhaps hundreds of thousand of dollars—and that the five-member commission could be reduced to three by January 2025.
That’s when the terms of current District 2 Commissioner Jerica Richardson and present District 4 Commissioner Monique Sheffield expire.
But in upholding her ruling—and a point the Cobb elections board also made in its brief—Hill said the commissioners—specifically, the three Democrats in the majority who voted for the home rule maps—acted to disenfranchise voters with an improper, unconstitutional map.
She said that nothing in her order calling for special elections implied that there would be a three-person board, clarifying that Richardson and Sheffield could continue serving until the special elections are held.
The Georgia Constitution mandates that the legislature conduct county reapportionment. The “home rule” challenge was a bid to keep Richardson in her seat, after the General Assembly drew her out of her East Cobb home.
Adams filed her complaint against the Cobb elections board, which was observing the “home rule” maps. The county was not a party to that complaint, and its emergency motion to intervene—four months after the fact—was denounced by the elections board and Adams’ attorney.
It’s also not clear when the legislative maps would start to be used by the county. The “home rule” maps included areas of East Cobb in District 2.
In the legislative maps, most of East Cobb is included in District 3, represented by Republican JoAnn Birrell, who was re-elected with those maps in 2022.
Richardson, a Democrat who barely won the District 2 race in 2020 to succeed retiring Republican Commissioner Bob Ott, is not seeking a second term.
She ran for 6th District Congress and was routed in the primary by U.S. Rep. Lucy McBath.
The District 2 Democratic primary was won by former Cobb Board of Education member Jaha Howard in a runoff.
Sheffield easily won the Democratic primary in District 4 and was facing no Republican opposition in the general election.
The Cobb elections board last week set two sets of dates to re-do the primaries: from Feb. 11 to April 29 if there are general election runoffs in November; or from March 18-June 17 if there are not runoffs.
Related:
- Absentee ballot request period for Cobb, Ga. underway
- Cobb Elections Board opposes county’s redistricting appeal
- Advance voting schedule for Cobb general election approved
- Cobb special elections scheduled as map dispute lingers
- Cobb to appeal court order for new commission elections
- New commission elections ordered in redistricting ruling
- MORE: Visit the East Cobb News Politics & Elections Page
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More fact free nonsense.
Here are the facts:
Cupid made up the notion of “home rule” It’s a fantasy.
The other democrats on the council supported her
They wasted a ton of money. And have more to go.
They disenfranchised Cobb voters with their illegal scheme.
They got their head handed to them in court.
End the gerrymandering. Keep the politicians out of redistricting. It has been so blatant the last 15 yrs, they all should be ashamed.
I’m very unhappy that my representative was removed from my district in an effort to leave her without any where to run. Lucy was screwed.
“Partisan gerrymandering is legal, but racial gerrymandering is not, so the court had to untangle what exactly was playing out in Georgia’s maps.”
That makes no sense to me. How about we have correct representation throughout the state? Is that really too much to ask?
The last fifteen years?
You might not remember when Roy Barnes was governor that he proposed the most radical gerrymandering in the history of gerrymandering. When his chief of staff, Bobby Kahn, was asked about its partisan nature, he said the new maps were “partisan, right down to their toenails”.
Whether you like new maps or not, inventing nonsensical arguments like “home rule” and then wasting millions on defending them are just wrong. I suppose democrats have stopped caring about disenfranchising voters since that has been the direct effect of this home rule charade in the courts.
This has been a long, expensive waste of time that that the effect of disenfranchising voters. It was shameful, expensive and incredibly selfish. Cupid and her fellow democrats on the county council have a lot to answer for.
Agreed!
Yet another Lisa Cupid fiasco!
Created by the General Assembly who decided to draw a sitting legislator out of the district she represented…let’s remember that.
Please do not obfuscate. This problem was created by Lisa Cupid and only Lisa Cupid. What we need to remember is that the General Assembly makes the law and it must be followed. It is not a choice. Since Lisa Cupid and her fellow Democratic Commissioners did not like the law, they decided to throw their toys out the cart and waste millions of taxpayers dollars and time. Not to mention the fact that every decision the Cobb County Commission made by a 3 Democrat to 2 Republican vote is illegal and could be challenged. That includes the tax increase. Lisa Cupid is flat out not qualified to be Chairman and the train wrecks will continue if God forbid she somehow gets re-elected.
Yeah sorry I confused you with facts, Jim. Quite simply, the once red state of Georgia can’t deal with the fact that the state is becoming more blue, so they will use every sad tri k in the book (going back to post Civil War days) to disenfranchise voters and lawfully elected representatives.
It seems you are the one who is confused Phil. As Judge Hill state very clearly: “Hill said the commissioners—specifically, the three Democrats in the majority who voted for the home rule maps—acted to disenfranchise voters with an improper, unconstitutional map. ”
Perhaps you should brush up on your reading and comprehension skills.
Hey Phil,
I’ve been a Georgia voter all my life and I remember when Tom Murphy, a powerful Democrat, ran the state and did everything he could to dilute emerging Republican power and maintain his party’s stranglehold on the state. He was the king gerrymandering so spare us the feigned outrage about what Republicans do today. They aren’t trying to disenfranchise anyone but if they set district boundaries to help their party, it’s nothing new; Murphy taught them how to do it.
As for the expensive stunt Cupid tried to pull off, with no precedent, she attempted to take the power Murphy once had and Ralston/Burns more recently and assume it for herself. There’s a pretty simple, enduring, and obvious reason why a Commissioner can’t design their own district boundaries. If Cupid can’t understand that, and had to expend untold taxpayer dollars to learn that lesson then she’s only shown herself unworthy of the office she holds.
Try reading Wendy once again.
“In 2022, however, the Georgia legislature ignored maps drawn by the Cobb delegation that would have kept Richardson in District 2. Instead, lawmakers approved maps that put most of East Cobb, including her home, in District 3, represented by Republican JoAnn Birrell.”
Ignored the maps. Why? To ensure a lawfully elected representative was drawn out of her district. This state needs to leave its 1865 mindset behind.