ATLANTA — Georgia Democrats are angry after the Republican-controlled House passed a bill Friday afternoon that would make most county elections non-partisan, but only in the five core metro Atlanta counties.
The vote was unexpected for the bill to make most county offices non-partisan. Those offices include everything from county commission, district attorney and others, but only in these five metro counties: Fulton, Cobb, Gwinnett, Clayton, and most of DeKalb.
Their commission and CEO seats are protected under the Georgia constitution.
“I’m really just shocked at what Republicans and the majority party just did,” Lawrenceville Democrat Sam Park said.
He and other Democrats told Channel 2’s Richard Elliot that they couldn’t believe the suddenness of how this happened.
Park said this bill is blatantly unconstitutional because it targets only five counties -- Democratic party strongholds -- and not the other 154 counties in Georgia.
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“If this does end up passing, what will likely happen is there will be litigation. This will cause additional taxpayer funds being wasted, unfortunately, on a partisan gamble by the majority party. For what reason, I do not know,” Park said.
It didn’t take long for DeKalb County District Attorney Sherry Boston to promise she will fight this in court, saying, “I urge Gov. Brian Kemp to veto this unconstitutional legislation. Otherwise, my colleagues and I are prepared to file a legal challenge.”
“So when the Senate does things like this, we have to really take the language as it comes back,” Republican state Rep. Chuck Efstration said.
He is the Majority Leader in the Georgia House of Representatives.
Efstration said the House couldn’t change the bill to include more counties. But even then, he said he believes these races should be non-partisan.
“There isn’t a Republican line and a Democrat line when entering the courthouse. All citizens should be treated the same as they seek out services from local governments,” Efstration said.
The bill now goes to the governor’s office. If signed into law, there will be legal challenges.