It's Official: Cobb Commissioner Drawn Out Of District In Voting Map Approved By Governor

COBB COUNTY, GA — Gov. Brian Kemp signed the GOP-sponsored redistricting maps for Cobb County Board of Commissioners and school board on Wednesday, drawing a sitting East Cobb commissioner out of her seat and making her political future uncertain without a precedent for such a move.

The new maps take effect Jan. 1, 2023, and will also apply for the May primary and November general elections.

Lawmakers have gotten into heated debates over the maps — some going so far as to shout at each other at one meeting — but particularly over the commission map.

Democratic lawmakers accuse Republicans, who drafted the map, of gerrymandering in order to hold power in a county that flipped blue in recent years — though even in the new map, the county's Democratic majority is maintained.

Meanwhile, Republicans say the map reflects the county's population growth over the last decade, and reflects the makeup of the county by dividing it into four segments: east, southwest, northwest and central (along the Interstate 75 corridor from the Cumberland area to Kennesaw).

Democratic representatives took particular issue with the way the new map draws out a sitting East Cobb commissioner out of her seat two years before her term expires.

As it stands now, East Cobb is divided between District 2 — represented by Commissioner Jerica Richardson, a Democrat — and District 3, represented by Republican JoAnn Birrell.

In the new map, sponsored by state Rep. John Carson, R-northeast Cobb, most of East Cobb would be drawn into District 3 — a Republican-controlled district — while District 2 would switch to include the I-75 corridor from Kennesaw down to the Cumberland area.

Richardson — whose 2020 election win flipped the county commission majority to Democrats and whose term doesn't expire until 2024 — would then be drawn out of her East Cobb district. Under county law, commissioners have to live in the district they represent.

Richardson lived in the Cumberland area until last summer, when she moved into a new home off Post Oak Tritt Road, East Cobb News reported. If she doesn't move to the new boundaries before the maps go into effect in January 2023, she may be removed from her seat.

The only comparable example from recent memory is from 1994, according to Stuart Morelli, deputy legislative counsel for the General Assembly, the Marietta Daily Journal reported.

In 1994, Villa Rica's then-mayor Teddy Lee had his home de-annexed from the city limits, and when the city tried to remove him from office, Lee took them to court.

Georgia law states that no office can be abolished or have its term shortened without a referendum, but the court said it wasn't a right for one person to hold said office — so Lee lost his seat.

Meanwhile, the new school board map — backed by the Republican-led school board — would shift Post 6, including the Walton and Wheeler clusters in East Cobb, into the Smyrna-Vinings-Cumberland area.

This would reduce East Cobb representation to one board member: Republican David Banks of Post 5 and vice chairman of the board. Democrat Charisse Davis of Post 6 would be drawn into the same district as Jaha Howard, another Democrat representing the Smyrna area of Post 2.

However, Howard is not seeking re-election on the Cobb school board, and will instead run for state school superintendent. This frees up his Post 2 seat for Davis to run for reelection.

State Rep. Erick Allen, D-Smyrna, hinted that lawsuits aren't out of the question. In the last two redistricting processes, courts have thrown out the Cobb commission maps approved by the legislature for conflicting with voting rights laws, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution previously reported.

"There will be more steps. I don't think this ends with the governor's signature," Allen told the MDJ.

Related:

• Cobb Commissioner Drawn Out Of District In Maps Sent To Governor
  
• Cobb GOP Redistricting Maps Approved By State House
• GOP Redistricting Could Oust Cobb Commissioner, Sparks Shouting
• Lawmakers Get Into Heated Debate Over Cobb Redistricting Maps