Cobb County is appealing a recent court ruling ordering new commission elections, continuing a dispute over electoral maps at that’s nearly two years old.
The county issued a statement Tuesday saying it’s filed motions in Cobb Superior Court to become a party to a complaint filed in March against the Cobb Board of Elections and reverse an order by Judge Kellie Hill last month that invalidated primary elections for commission districts 2 and 4.
In the statement the county said its action is an attempt to reverse the order “to ensure proper legal procedures were followed and to protect the interests of Cobb County taxpayers.” The new action is asking that the May primary results stand.
The filings come several days after commissioners conducted an executive session that didn’t specify a reason.
Hill said that those elections were conducted using maps approved by the commission’s three Democrats and violated the Georgia Constitution.
The county maps were approved under a claim of home rule. But in her ruling, issued July 26, Hill backed up a January ruling by Cobb Superior Court Judge Ann Harris that only the Georgia legislature can conduct county reapportionment.
Kennesaw-area resident Alicia Adams had filed a complaint against the elections board—not the county—after being disqualified as a Republican candidate in District 2 under the home rule maps, which include some of East Cobb. She lives within the District 2 boundaries in the legislative maps.
“The Court, having ruled the Home Rule Map unconstitutional in the companion appeal finds the Plaintiff has a clear legal right to seek qualification for the Cobb County Commission, Post 2, using the Legislative Map, if qualified, to run for a special primary in that post,” Hill states in the ruling.
That decision invalidate the District 2 and 4 primaries until most likely after the November general elections. The terms of Democratic commissioners Jerica Richardson and Monique Sheffield, respectively, expire in December.
In its filings Monday, the county referenced the rights of voters in the two affected districts, saying new elections would be “disruptive and contrary to the public interest” to change the maps with the general election so close.
New elections could deprive voters in those areas of elected representation possibly in June of next year, and hit taxpayers with the cost of special elections, the county is now arguing.
“I am hopeful the judge in this matter can provide clarity in responding to our county attorney’s inquiries on behalf of our Board,” said Cobb Commission Chairwoman Lisa Cupid, a Democrat, in the county’s statement on Tuesday.
She’s on the November ballot seeking a second term. Sheffield won her District 4 Democratic primary easily, and would have been unopposed in November.
In District 2, former Cobb school board member Jaha Howard won the Democratic primary, and East Cobb resident Pamela Reardon qualified under the home rule maps. Hill’s order would disqualify Reardon.
Richardson, who was drawn out of her East Cobb home in District 2 under the legislative maps—triggering the long-drawn-out-dispute—decided not to seek re-election and ran unsuccessfully for 6th District Congress.
East Cobb News has left a message with Richardson seeking comment.
The two Republican commissioners, Keli Gambrill of North Cobb and JoAnn Birrell of District 3 in East Cobb, oppose the county’s new legal filings (their terms expire at the end of 2026).
Birrell was re-elected in 2022 under legislative maps that placed most of her district in East Cobb.
Both GOP representatives have filed statements at each board business meeting since January 2023 stating their objections to the home rule maps.
Cupid, Richardson and Sheffield voted in October 2022 to approve the home rule maps to conduct county business. The Cobb elections board decided earlier this year to follow those same maps for the primaries.
The county is no longer arguing for the validity of its maps, but the process for determining how two of its district commissioners will be chosen by voters.
“While the county agreed it would return to the state legislative map in a lawful and orderly manner, the motions were filed to ensure proper legal procedures were followed and to protect the interests of Cobb County taxpayers,” the county’s statement Tuesday states.
Related:
- New commission elections ordered in redistricting ruling
- Cobb warns of text scam to apply for an absentee ballot
- Trump campaign opens volunteer office in East Cobb
- Howard cruises in Cobb commission runoff election
- Primary results: DA defeated; Commission race heads to runoff
- Cobb redistricting lawsuit dismissed by Ga. Supreme Court
- Cobb school board Post 5 candidates receive endorsements
- MORE: Visit the East Cobb News Politics & Elections Page
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It is dereliction of duty to decide to spend taxpayer funds to appeal this, or any other, court decision without a transparent publication and discussion of the taxpayer funds spent to-date, and the estimated additional taxpayer funds which will be spent on the appeal.
I agree! It has been one fiasco after another with Lisa Cupid. Arrogant incompetence and a complete betrayal of the citizenry. Yet, she says wants what is best for the citizens.
Lisa Cupid is a train wreck.
Our Board of Commissioners is not legitimate and the legislation they have passed(including tax increases) is not legal and should be challenged.
When will this clown posee end. Home rule is a fabricated concept with no basis in state law. This is a desperate waste of time and money that stands to disenfranchise Cobb voters. The democratic majority on the commission is a disaster.
Vote them all out!
Agreed!