The Cobb County Board of Commissioners plans to vote Tuesday on whether to accept the latest court ruling deeming its electoral map unconstitutional — a vote that could end its yearslong fight over local redistricting power.
But the process to revert to the state legislative drawn map, abandoning a map drawn by the county, and to give Commissioner Jerica Richardson notice to vacate her seat has the board once again divided along party lines.
Commissioners held a contentious meeting on the issue Monday, and it is possible that the item will be pulled from Tuesday’s agenda for more discussion.
In 2022, rebuking state lawmakers who passed a map that drew Richardson, a Democrat, out of her seat mid term, the County Commission tried to pass its own map under a novel legal argument that it had the authority to do so using Home Rule powers — a move heavily criticized by government officials including the boards two Republicans, legal experts and constituents.
After two lengthy legal disputes, a judge struck down the county-passed map as unconstitutional in July, and county officials do not plan to continue fighting after the judge rejected their last-ditch legal effort to defend the map.
But the partisan dispute does not appear to be over.
Republican Commissioner JoAnn Birrell said in a Monday board meeting that she does not support the proposal to acknowledge the judge’s ruling. She believes the county needs to take official action in undoing its prior vote passing its own map.
Credit: arvin.temkar@ajc.com
Credit: arvin.temkar@ajc.com
The county attorney said the map was deemed unconstitutional already through the court ruling.
“The judge has said that the map is unconstitutional, so you’ll just be adopting the findings of that unconstitutionality, and then you’d be instructing, at that point in time, the staff to adopt back over to the state map that’s already in place,” said county attorney Bill Rowling.
Birrell said formally repealing the county-passed map is the only way to lawfully remove it. She and Republican Commissioner Keli Gambrill both urged the board to hire outside counsel.
“This is strictly political at this point,” Gambrill said. “We need outside counsel, because it is hard to determine if our legal counsel is truly going by the law or if they are following the political will of the board.”
Jason Shepherd, an attorney and former chair of the Cobb GOP, said the ruling struck down the map, making it “inoperative,” but the county could repeal the map as well to ensure no further action would be taken under it. But it is unclear whether that is necessary, he said.
“It’s a technicality, but I don’t know that it has to be necessarily removed for legal effect totally, because the maps are unconstitutional,” Shepherd said. “No one’s ever tried this, so what is the procedure on it?”
The proposed agenda item would also give Richardson 10 days notice to vacate her seat as outlined in Georgia law, citing county code which says commissioners “must continue to reside in that district during that person’s term of office or that office shall become vacant.”
Richardson lives in east Cobb, which is no longer part of District 2 under the state-passed map, and did not run for reelection.
Several have argued that Richardson would not have to vacate her seat just because the district changed, including Shepherd, because she still lives in the district as it existed when she was elected to office.
County attorneys disagree and say Richardson must vacate her seat. She could appeal that decision in court to argue that she should be allowed to stay in office through her term. She has previously said that her removal before the end of her elected term would be “an injustice” but declined to say whether she intends to appeal.
The board plans to vote at its Tuesday evening board meeting.
About the Author
