The Georgia General Assembly is coming back to Atlanta. Gov. Brian Kemp formally issued a call for a special session beginning June 17 at the state Capitol, setting up a legislative sprint to redraw congressional and state legislative maps ahead of the 2028 elections and to revise election administration rules across the state.
The session follows the U.S. Supreme Court's April decision that race cannot be the predominant factor in drawing voting district boundaries, a ruling that effectively ended the use of majority-minority districts as a tool to ensure minority representation. WSB-TV reported the decision has forced states across the South to reconsider maps that had been crafted specifically to give Black voters electoral power. Georgia's current maps, drawn after the 2020 census, include several majority-Black congressional districts. Those lines will now be redrawn in June.
Civil rights leaders are not quiet about it. WSB-TV's Richard Elliot spoke to representatives from both parties about how the session was initiated. The Atlanta Voice reported that leaders are framing the timing as an attack on Black voting power, particularly given that the session will address ballot QR codes and other election administration changes that critics say create barriers to voting. Georgia Recorder reported that voters are caught in the middle as the redistricting battle intensifies.
The practical effect for Atlanta is significant. The metro area's congressional representation, including the 5th District seat held for decades by John Lewis before his death, could shift depending on how the new maps are drawn. The June session will also take up changes to how Georgia conducts elections, including potential revisions to absentee ballot rules and the QR codes used on printed ballots. For intown Atlanta residents who have watched the state legislature chip away at local control over the past several years, the special session is the next chapter in a longer story.
