COBB COUNTY, Ga. — A more than year-long back and forth over Cobb County elections, and redistricting processes, has ended with a seat on the board of commissioners vacant.
In September, Channel 2 Action News reported that due to a change of electoral maps in the county, the Cobb County District 2 seat filled by then-Commissioner Jerica Richardson would be open for a new election.
On Tuesday, a judge finalized that change due to where Richardson lives.
At issue was a redrawn map created by Cobb County commissioners. After a series of court actions, the home rule map drawn by commissioners was thrown out and the one drawn by state lawmakers was used instead.
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That process led to Richardson’s address falling outside of her district, putting her position at risk.
Now, just before the new year started, a Cobb judge said this is the state of affairs and the District 2 commission seat is empty.
According to the order on Dec. 31, Richardson was arguing in court that she should be able to continue serving as the District 2 Commissioner despite living outside of the district’s bounds.
Opposing Richardson’s interpretation that a “provision of the Act was intentionally included to ensure that she would remain eligible to serve,” was the county, which argued that following that interpretation would be against state law and contrary to what the legislature had decided.
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On those grounds, the court agreed. Focusing on the language Richardson tried to use in her argument for position preservation, Judge Ann Harris wrote that “the language appears to anticipate (and reject) arguments such as Richardson makes here: that she was elected to represent ‘that district’ as it existed under a now-superseded law rather than as it exists under the current law.”
As a result of the legal battle, and the ruling, Harris said the District 2 seat is vacant, though if Richardson wanted to remain qualified to serve as commissioner, she would have to move back into the district’s established boundaries, as set in 2023.
“The Court’s well-reasoned decision affirmed the correctness of the County’s determination that the Office of BOC District 2 Commissioner is vacant, given that Commissioner Richardson does not reside within BOC District 2 under the currently applicable state legislative map,” the County Attorney’s Office said in a statement.
In her own statement, posted online, Richardson expressed disappointment with the ruling and said it had solidified one of her greatest fears.
“It is now precedent that the General Assembly has the blanket permission to remove a sitting elected official, at any time, and for any reason,” Richardson wrote in part. “Trust and believe that my vacancy is but a canary in the coal mine for what is to come. We have already seen other legislative bills chip away at the essence of the delicate checks and balances that have made our Country great. It is a slippery slope that we find ourselves on, and the fact that I am being removed from office this much later than originally thought is only because those in opposition struggled to file a legitimate legal challenge against the County for over a year.”
She also praised Cobb County for their work to prevent the “precedent and stop a government branch from encroaching on loal control,” calling herself an institutionalist and saying she was proud of the County’s legal work to defend a Constitutional procedure.
Richardson said she would be reviewing the ruling to see what, if any, options she may still have “in the attempt to continue to fight for Georgia’s Republic.”
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