A Georgia judge is batting down an attempt by a local government to overrule state lawmakers and draw its own electoral districts, in a ruling that reinforces the supremacy of state government over local government.
Cobb County Superior Court Judge Kellie Hill on Thursday ruled that the county can’t draw its own maps. Because candidates for two Cobb County Commission seats had already been nominated in primaries under the county-drawn maps, Hill ruled that the general election for those seats can’t go forward in November. Instead, Cobb County election officials must schedule a new primary and general election, probably in 2025.
The ruling in a lawsuit brought by prospective Republican county commission candidate Alicia Adams means residents in Georgia’s third-largest county will elect two county commissioners in districts mapped by the Republican-majority legislature, and not a map later drawn by the Democratic-majority Cobb County Commission.
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