ATLANTA — The Georgia General Assembly will reconvene for a special session at the Georgia State Capitol on Wednesday to address the state’s voting maps.
This comes in wake of the U.S. Supreme Court ruling that states cannot use race to redistrict and create majority-minority voting districts. Gov. Brian Kemp called last month for a special session to begin June 17.
Channel 2’s Richard Elliot will have LIVE coverage of the special session, on Channel 2 Action News starting at 4:00 p.m.
Lawmakers will also look at the changes to the state’s electoral and ballot process in response to a 2024 law regarding the use of paper ballots and QR codes.
A few organizations, including the NAACP and Black Voters Matter, plan to march to the state capitol on Wednesday to protest the special session.
GEORGIA REDISTRICTING MAPS
Several Republican-led states have called to redraw their maps since the SCOTUS decision on Louisiana v. Callais, which struck down Louisiana’s congressional map.
But Georgia’s redrawn maps will not be used for the upcoming 2026 midterm election. Kemp said in a statement in May that it would be too late to reconfigure the maps before November and that any new maps would have to be for the 2028 election.
This isn’t the first special session that Kemp has called to look at Georgia’s voting maps. Kemp had to call a special session in Nov. 2023 to redraw and approve the current maps.
The Georgia General Assembly initially approved the set of maps back in 2021. The maps shifted the Republican edge from 8-6 to 9-5. A federal judge later ruled that those 2021 maps violated a section of the Voting Rights Act.
QR CODES BALLOTS LAW
The other main issue Georgia lawmakers will have to address is the state’s law regarding QR codes printed on election ballots.
Lawmakers passed a law in 2024 that requires the state to stop using QR codes to count ballots by July 1, 2026. However, two years later, they haven’t decided on any replacement method.
There is an upcoming special election on July 28 for Rep. David Scott’s Congressional seat after the longtime Congressman died in April.
With early voting beginning on July 6 after the deadline, the Georgia Secretary of State’s Office sent guidance to the six counties in Scott’s district to use the current election system.
That could change based on what happens with the special session.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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