An aspiring candidate for Cobb County’s District 2 commission seat has appealed her disqualification to Cobb Superior Court in a new legal filing Friday afternoon.
Alicia Adams qualified to run for office through the Cobb County Republican Party even though she doesn’t live in District 2 under the current county district map. Commissioners must live in the district they represent. Resident Mindy Seger challenged the qualification and the Board of Elections disqualified Adams’ candidacy in a hearing last Friday.
The county’s district map has been in dispute for nearly two years, since the county commission passed its own version of the map after the state Legislature passed one that drew commissioner Jerica Richardson out of her district mid-term. A superior court judge ruled in January that the map passed by the commission is unconstitutional, but the county has appealed that ruling to the Georgia Supreme Court, which has set oral arguments for April.
In the meantime, the county’s elections board used the county’s version of the map for qualifying in the May primary election, which Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger has condemned.
Adams would qualify to run for the commission seat under the state map, but not with the county map.
In the court filing, Adams and her attorneys Chuck Boring and the firm Robbins Alloy Belinfante Littlefield asked the judge to overturn her disqualification, prevent the election from moving forward until the map dispute has been resolved, and require that the Board of Elections use the map enacted by the state Legislature for the upcoming commission elections. The filings also request an expedited review of the case.
Credit: Taylor Croft
Credit: Taylor Croft
Boring argues that the elections board violated Adams’ right to run for elected office and her right to vote by using the commission district map that has already been ruled unconstitutional.
“Defendants are improperly conducting the elections for Cobb County Board of Commissioners, Posts 2 and 4 by refusing to use the General Assembly map and district boundaries,” the filing says.
Elections attorney Daniel White declined to comment until he has a chance to fully review the filings.
County officials argue the home rule provision of the Georgia Constitution gives them the authority to overrule the state on certain matters, including the district lines. That has created a unique constitutional question — and chaos during qualifying. The county argues that its map should be used until the Supreme Court rules on the matter.
In the hearing before the Board of Elections, Boring argued the opposite, saying county’s appeal does not delay lower court’s judgment. The elections board didn’t agree.
“My client, Ms. Adams, has qualified under what has been ruled by the superior court — what the secretary of state has opined, what the attorney general has opined — to be the lawful, constitutional map that applies to the county commission race,” Boring said.
Cobb County GOP Chair Salleigh Grubbs said she qualified Adams so that the party would have a candidate just in case the supreme court reinstates the state-approved map in the middle of the election.
“I know Alicia would not qualify under the (county’s) map,” Grubbs said. “I follow the law. The law says the legislative map is the map. Judge Harris says the legislative map is the map.”
Credit: Taylor Croft
Credit: Taylor Croft
It is unclear how the high court’s decision will impact the 2024 elections, particularly if it decides the legislative map should be used. Candidates have already qualified under the county’s map, and the May primary is set to take place mere weeks after oral arguments.
Another lawsuit was filed the week of qualifying against the county by resident Larry Savage, a perennial GOP candidate for the Cobb Commission chair seat. Savage’s filing asks the court to issue an emergency ruling on which map is in effect.
The court has not yet weighed in on his complaint. Two other individuals tried to qualify for office but were turned away because they don’t live in District 2 under the county map, further complicating the ongoing race. They have said previously they also may pursue litigation, but court records show nothing has been filed yet.
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