Judge orders Cobb Board of Elections to create “interim remedial map” after gerrymander accusations

COBB COUNTY, Ga. — In a victory for the plaintiffs, a federal judge has ordered the Cobb County Board of Elections and Registration to create and enact an interim remedial map for the county’s school board elections by Jan. 22, 2024.

The order comes as multiple plaintiffs sue the board over what they allege were racially gerrymandered election maps for the school board.

“I am thrilled that the Court has ruled in our favor. As a former Cobb County student, it was important for my voice and the voices of our current and former students to be heard in this case,” Hylah Daly, an individual plaintiff, said about the recent decision. “We are standing against racial inequality so that all students will have fair representation. Following this lawsuit, we are working on an awareness campaign to ensure parents, students, and community members are informed about Cobb County School District’s upcoming election.”

As previously reported by Channel 2 Cobb County Bureau Chief Michele Newell, the case opened in June 2022, arguing that the map created by the board of elections was not representative of the county’s diverse population.

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In October, Channel 2 Action News reported that the coalition of civil rights groups and Cobb County voters requested a judge block the school district selections before the 2024 election cycle.

That process has now, at least temporarily, come to fruition with U.S. District Judge Eleanor Ross ordering the board to “facilitate the remedial process outlined in their proposed stipulated settlement agreement,” with the schedule set to start the process beginning Dec. 18, according to court documents.

Ross’ court order specifically says that the plaintiffs alleged the enacted map from the 2022 legislative session for the Cobb County School District Board was racially gerrymandered, in violation of the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment.

The plaintiffs’ claims and summary of the facts of the case were “unrebutted by Defendants—the Enacted Map was intentionally designed to ‘manipulate the population of Cobb County predominantly on the basis of race’ so as to ‘prevent the possibility’ that voters of color might elect a majority of the seven-member Cobb County School District Board.”

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Further, the plaintiffs claimed that the map passed by the state legislature, which court records state closely followed the version drawn by members of the Cobb County Board of Elections, “packs Black and Latinx voters into three southern districts and bleaches the population of the northern districts.”

The judge wrote in the order that neither the plaintiffs nor the defendants disputed that the enacted map moved Black and Latino voters out of predominantly white districts.

“The Parties do not dispute that the Enacted Map (1) moved ‘both Black and Latino voters’ out of Districts 1, 4, 5, and 7 and (2) simultaneously increased the percentage of white voters in those same Districts,” according to court documents.

As a result of the current court proceedings, Ross ordered the interim map be created and put in place by Jan. 22, 2024.

“In a win for Black and Latinx voters, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia blocked the Cobb County School Board from using its racially gerrymandered map in an upcoming election because it violates the Fourteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution,” the Southern Poverty Law Center said in a statement, speaking on behalf of the plaintiffs, saying that the court had ruled “that the Cobb County Board of Elections enacted a racial gerrymandered school board map after the 2020 U.S. Census. The injunction approves a motion to block the Cobb County Board of Elections and Registration from using the current map for the 2024 election cycle.”

The temporary map will be used for an upcoming election on May 21, 2024, according to the statement from SPLC.

A Cobb County School District spokesperson released a brief statement to Channel 2 Action News regarding the case update.

“Anticipating this ruling by Judge Ross, Freeman, Mathis, and Gary have taken every available step, were prepared for her decision, and we do not anticipate this case to be over in the near term. This continues to be a legal matter and we cannot make further comment,” the district representative said.

Channel 2 Action News has reached out to the Cobb County Board of Elections for comment on Thursday’s ruling. We are waiting for their response.

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