Early voting starts Saturday for Cobb Special Primary Election
Early voting starts Saturday for Cobb County’s Special Primary Election for districts 2 and 4 on the Board of Commissioners.
A total of eight candidates are running in two primaries for each district in the Feb. 11 election. If there’s a primary runoff election, it will be on March 11. The date of the special election is April 29.
The special election follows Cobb County Superior Court Judge Kellie Hill’s ruling that last year’s primaries had to be redone, concluding that the county-drawn electoral map used was unconstitutional.
This year’s special election is being held using a map drawn by the Georgia Legislature.
Tate Fall, Cobb’s elections director, said Thursday that the entire cost for the special election cycle could be just over $1.5 million.
The Cobb County Commission map had been in question since after the board attempted to pass its own map in 2022. This was a rebuke of Republican state lawmakers who passed a map that drew Democratic Commissioner Jerica Richardson out of her district halfway through her term.
State lawmakers are typically understood to have redistricting authority, but the county drew its own map, arguing that home rule powers in the state constitution allowed them to do so.
Here is a list of who will be on the primary ballots:
- Running in the Democratic primary for District 2 are Erick Allen, a consultant; Jaha Howard, a dentist; and Tracy Stevenson, a retired general contractor. (Taniesha Whorton has withdrawn from the race, but her name will still be on the ballot because she dropped out after the ballots were finalized, Fall said.)
- Alicia Adams, a political advocate, is unopposed as the only Republican running for the District 2 seat.
- In the District 4 Democratic primary, attorney Yashica Marshall is challenging incumbent Monique Sheffield.
- In the Republican primary for District 4, business owner Julien Grhas and Matthew Hardwick, an engineer, are on the ballot.
This week, all registered Cobb County voters should be receiving updated precinct cards stating their polling place and commission district, Fall said.
About the Author
Reed Williams is an enterprise reporter on the Local team at The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
