State House OKs Cobb's GOP-Sponsored Redistricting Maps For Commission, School Board

COBB COUNTY, GA — On Monday, the Georgia House of Representatives approved new GOP-sponsored redistricting maps for Cobb County's commission and school board — maps that could draw one Democratic commissioner out of her seat before her term expires.

The House approved the maps in a 95-64 vote, largely along party lines and over the objections of Democratic officials in Cobb. The maps will now be considered by the state Senate.

The county commission map would create large conservative majorities in two of the four commission districts in a county that's become more Democratic over the last decade. The fifth county commissioner is elected countywide rather than by a specific district.

The map could also potentially force a sitting commissioner — a Democrat —representing East Cobb out of her seat two years before her term expires.

State Rep. John Carson, R-northeast Cobb, proposed the Board of Commissioners' district maps, while state Rep. Ginny Ehrhart, R-west Cobb, proposed the one for the Board of Education.

In Carson's proposed map, most of East Cobb would be drawn into District 3, represented by Commissioner JoAnn Birrell, instead of split between Districts 2 and 3. District 2 would instead include the I-75 corridor from Kennesaw through Marietta and retain a majority of the Smyrna-Vinings area.

District 2 Commissioner Jerica 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. She would have to move if the bill is approved or be forced out of the county commission under county law.

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.

"They couldn't beat her at the polls, so they're resorting to this to take her down," Jackie Bettadapur, chair of the Cobb County Democratic Party, previously told Patch. "She's a young, educated, professional Black woman. They just don't like the results of the 2020 election, so they're cracking her district and packing her into this bogus district they're calling a 'central transportation corridor.'"

Redistricting happens every 10 years after each decennial U.S. Census, in which voting maps across the state and country are evaluated and district boundaries are redrawn.

In Georgia, local redistricting maps are typically drawn by the local legislative delegation, and then go through the House's Intragovernmental Coordination Committee.

But Republican legislators in both Cobb and Gwinnett counties — as well as Athens-Clarke County, all of which are Democratic-led counties — have filed those maps through the Governmental Affairs Committee, allowing them to advance without the majority support of the county's delegation.

Democratic representatives have said the new maps are drawn along racial and political lines. Critics said the maps pack most people of color and Democratic voters into the same districts, diluting the minority voting power in a county where the population is roughly half white and half racial minorities.

However, Republican members have said the boundaries didn't come from racial or political lines, but rather from the population growth in Cobb County over the last decade. Some say the maps follow a breakdown of dividing the county into easily-definable segments: east, southwest, northwest and central (along the Interstate 75 corridor).

On Monday, Democrats accused Republicans of drawing the maps in secret, while Republicans said a lack of bipartisan support on the maps is the local officials' fault. Carson said the county commission map still makes room for the county's 3-2 Democratic majority, "reflecting the political composition of the county," according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

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.

If the maps are passed by the full Senate and signed by Gov. Brian Kemp, Bettadapur and others predict a lawsuit will be filed. 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 AJC reported.

Related:

• GOP Redistricting Could Oust Cobb Commissioner, Sparks Shouting
• Lawmakers Get Into Heated Debate Over Cobb Redistricting Maps
• Cobb Law Firm Tapped To Redraw Cobb's School District Maps
• Cobb School Board Member To Run For Georgia School Superintendent