Georgia lawmakers will return to the state Capitol June 17 to contend with two election-related issues under an order signed last Wednesday by Gov. Brian Kemp.
State Representative Steven Meeks (R-Screven) and State Senator Russ Goodman (R-Cogdell) make up Pierce County’s delegation in the assembly.
Senator Goodman said he is not sure what to expect from the special session.
“I think it is anyone’s guess right now,” he said. “We will see what happens.”
Efforts to reach Meeks were unsuccessful.
The proclamation requires the General Assembly to convene for a special session to redraw legislative districts, pointing to a U.S. Supreme Court decision in April that invalidated a new majority-Black legislative district in Louisiana.
The order also calls on the Legislature to address a lingering problem with the state’s voting process.
Georgia’s current voting process will become illegal July 1 under a 2024 state law that banned the use of Quick Response barcodes, known as QR codes, for tallying votes. Despite meeting for two regular legislative sessions since passing that law, state lawmakers have neither authorized nor funded an alternative process.
Kemp’s proclamation calls lawmakers to the Gold Dome at 2 p.m. June 17, the day after any necessary runoff elections to decide the outcome of the May 19 primary elections.
By then, some lawmakers who return to the Capitol will know that they lost and will be out of office next year.
They will be redrawing election maps without the same limitations previously imposed by the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which strengthened protections for Black and other minority voters by barring practices that diluted their votes.
In April, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Louisiana v. Callais that a new majority-Black legislative district was unconstitutional, raising questions about future legal interpretations of the Voting Rights Act. Lawmakers in several Southern states moved to redraw district lines after the ruling.
(Capitol Beat News Service contributed to this report.)
